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Jeanne Labuda on immigration

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Contributed by: Larry Ambrose on 4/26/2006

My name is Jeanne Labuda. I'm a former Assistant State Attorney General, and I am a Democratic candidate for the Colorado House of Representatives in District 1, representing Southwest Denver and the City of Sheridan.

My remarks today concern immigration.
As evidenced by the various marches and public gatherings of the last several weeks, this is an issue of growing importance.....and our actions or inaction will have consequences on the history of this country and our state yet to be written. And while the size of the crowd at the Civic Center rally was impressive, it only confirms that immigration is a pressing issue which must be addressed. It does not begin to suggest the correct course we should follow or policies we should adopt. Policy makers should not be influenced by the size of a crowd anymore than they should be influenced by the shrillness of a radio talk show host.

Elected officials who set public policy must be guided by accurate information and hard facts. There is no shortage of rhetoric and ideas..... some of it thoughtful and constructive and some of it not very thoughtful and not very constructive. But there is definitely a shortage of accurate information and hard data. Let me give you a very recent and relative example.

This past Friday, in a nationally televised interview, Governor Owens stated that Colorado needed a guest worker program - a program to match willing immigrant workers to the jobs that aren't being filled by Coloradans. However, Governor Owens provided no information.....he cited no hard data to support his assertion that Colorado needs and would benefit from a guest worker program.
The reason for this is simple: when it comes to illegal immigration and undocumented workers in Colorado, the hard fact is.....there are no hard facts. I know because I called the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment to get their data of undocumented workers and their impacts on the workplace, wages, tax revenues, employment trends, unemployment benefits, workers comp and so forth. They have absolutely not data, no information.

They want and need the data so that the Department can do its job. They have even developed the methodology and protocols necessary for identifying and sampling the undocumented worker universe in Colorado. I was told that the reason why they had not gone forward yet was the budget.

So here we have the most pressing public policy debate in the conntry right now and neither the leading proponent for a guest worker program, Colorado Governor Bill Owens, nor the leading proponent for cutting off nearly all immigration, Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo have the slightest idea as to what the facts are in Colorado. Immigration may be a federal issue, but we can't bury our heads in the sand here in Colorado and formulate policies based on guess and speculation.

As I said, the issue is pressing and the people want the problem addressed. Here in Colorado we don't know the scope or any of the discreet characteristics of the problem. I urge the legislature to pass a late bill this session to remedy this. If not, next January I will introduce a bill enabling the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment to execute their audit of undocumented workers and their impacts on the state and local economies, to assess the employment demands for temporary or guest workers and develop a set of policy recommendations addressing how to fill unskilled labor jobs with U.S. citizens.

That's the first thing the Governor and the legislature should do; get an accurate picture of what is actually happening in Colorado.
The second suggestion I have is that the Governor and members of the Colorado congressional delegation call on the President of the United States to appoint a commission on immigration reform made of individuals of the same intellectual and leadership qualities of the 9/11 Commission. This commission should take the time necessary to gather information (even beyond the scope of what I am proposing we do here in Colorado), hold hearings and make recommendations to Congress. We should put the rhetoric, emotions and immigration reform legislation on the back burner until after the commission makes it recommendations. This may be our best and last chance to get it right for our country. And I want an immigration policy based on what is best for the U.S. economy - and I want it based on hard facts.
Governor Owens is not the only official guessing at the need for foreign labor. In all the current proposals for guest worker programs, federal officials seem to be pulling numbers out of thin air.

Often the farm sector is cited as demonstrating the need for temporary workers. However, our eyes and common sense tell us the vast majority of illegal workers are employed in many other areas of our economy such as the retail, construction, mining and hospitality industries. We need accurate information and data before we make decisions with such far-reaching consequences.

Immigration reform is a federal issue and my advice to federal officials is to "fix it first, reform it second." Our border with Mexico is broken. Fix that first, then we can talk about reform.....after you have gotten all the data and information from all 50 states. So while the commission is doing its job gathering data and preparing recommendations our federal officials should do their job and fix our border.

What kind of immigration reform do I support at the federal level? I can't articulate it....its a very complex issue. But I want an immigration policy that might best be characterized as "in the best interest of the country and in deference to the history of our as a country as a bastion of freedom and diversity."

How wide a gate will we have for those wishing to come to America and who should we welcome is going to depend on the information and facts we gather. Again, I want an immigration policy that addresses the employment needs of Colorado and the United States.
Here in Colorado, we will start gathering the information and hard data.....and in Washington, they need to start securing our borders. When those tasks are completed, then we can begin to talk about reform.

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