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VASER Letter to Colorado Governor Bill Owens May 24, 2000 ______________________________________________________ Valley Alliance for Social and Environmental Responsibility PO Box 12008, Aspen, CO 81612 The Honorable Governor Bill Owens: It has come to our attention that a bill is before you, HB-1076, for your signature that would give benefits to illegal aliens, specifically, prenatal care to women in Colorado illegally. We emphatically urge you not to sign that bill into law. A story in the Denver Post by Carol Kreck reported the teen birth rate in Colorado exceeds the national rate. The national rate is declining while Colorado's is increasing. Reporter Kreck quoted a demographer with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Sue Ricketts, as saying "[I]t is due to in-migration of Hispanics", because of the "huge influx of migrant workers". Ricketts qualified her statement, saying it is a demographic rule that "migrant fertility is like the country of origin." It is an insult to the taxpayers of Colorado to even suggest we pay for a "pilot program", estimated to cost more than one million dollars, for the profligacy of people in our country and state illegally. A relatively small percentage of Colorado's population is creating 42 percent of Colorado's teen births. Look at Mexico. Mexico's population has tripled in the last 50 years and is on a 32-year doubling course. Mexico has made no measurable effort to stabilize its population, choosing instead to dump it excess, uneducated population into the U.S., with no end in sight. Indeed, Vincente Fox, the PAN party candidate for president in Mexico, has said he in looking forward to "completely open borders" in the next five to 10 years. That's his answer (and our tough luck) to controlling Mexico's runaway population growth. It is especially disconcerting to see our state legislature's California-like capitulation to the presence of illegal aliens. You must know having a baby on U.S. soil means instant citizenship for that infant and, as the law-ignoring practices of the Immigration and Naturalism Service demonstrate, virtual immunity from deportation of the parents. It's used as a wedge for permanent residence in the U.S. by, I remind you, people here illegally. Again, we urge you not to sign this insulting, portentous piece of legislation. Colorado is full. Giving benefits to illegal aliens, whose irresponsible behavior represents an increasing, ongoing burden to the citizens and legal residents of Colorado, is not Smart Growth. Instead, we ask you to call one the federal government to do its job and prosecute our laws against illegal immigration. We will be monitoring the development of this matter. Respectfully, Valley Alliance for Social and Environmental Responsibility Home |