History of Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform - and Defend Colorado Now - part 1

Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform was founded in the 1990's by Bill Herron, a refugee from Mexifornia. Bill and Jan Herron both put in a huge amount of effort pushing for immigration reform, especially within the GOP. Several years later, Bill turned directorship over to Fred Elbel and Mike McGarry. During that time, one of our projects involved placing billboards in the metro Denver area. At the time, it was a good way to increase awareness of the issue. (See the CAIRCO projects section for past and current projects.)

Fred then became the sole director and Mike was involved with several independent projects, such as the Stop Amnesty project in 2004 and Billboard Colorado in 2006. Stan Weekes then became the director for several years in the 2010 timeframe. He did an incredible amount of work behind the scenes working on issues related to immigration law enforcement in Colorado. Fred Elbel is the current director.

The Colorado Secure and Verifiable Identity Document Act - 2003

As a result of the proliferation of the bogus Mexican Matricula Consular ID card, Colorado passed the Colorado Secure and Verifiable Identity Document Act (HB 1224) in 2003. You can read the entire bill on the Colorado Legislature website: Colorado Secure and Verifiable Identity Document Act (HB03-1224).

The bill was worded with legal help from Friends of Immigration Law Enforcement and was sponsored by Senator Andrews and Representative Lee and then signed into law by Governor Owens on May 22, 2003.

HB03-1224 states that:

HB-1224 changes Colorado statutes, clarifying that when a person knowingly presents false documentation to a police officer (including a false Matricula Consular card, false Social Security Card, or false Immigration card), the presenter may be prosecuted for presenting false identification to law enforcement.

Government employees who accept the Matricula Consular, or another from of non-secure and unverifiable identification, are risking the loss of their governmental immunity if they accept the card for any government service, and they will incur direct personal liability to civil litigation.

More information

Read the CAIRCO summary of HB-1224.

Here is in-depth background information.

As a result of our success in Colorado, CAIRCO put together a Toolkit for Activists in other states to use to pass similar legislation.