Latinos heavily courted in Denver mayoral election
As the race for Denver mayor enters its final days, both candidates are increasingly focused on the Latino vote and immigration issues. Former state Sen. Chris Romer, who has received endorsements from one-time mayoral candidate James Mejia and former Mayor Federico Peña, among others, has been simultaneously courting Latinos while attacking rival Michael Hancock over immigration issues. A recent mailer from Romer's campaign showed him alongside Mejia with the words "standing up for Denver's Latino community." It also touted his support for legislation to allow in-state tuition for illegal immigrants and his involvement in efforts to educate immigrants. "With the Peña and Mejia endorsements, it's clear that Romer is emphasizing and staking a good portion of his victory on the Latino vote," said Rob Preuhs, a political scientist at Metropolitan State College of Denver who studies racial and ethnic politics. Hancock, a city councilman who represents northeast Denver, also has touted prominent Latino endorsements from fellow council members Paul Lopez and Judy Montero, and from former House Speaker Ruben Valdez and former state Sen. Paul Sandoval. "Mejia's not running" At La Alma Recreation Center in southwest Denver on Wednesday, opinion was divided on the two campaigns. Bob Luna, 57, an art teacher at the center, said he was supporting Romer and that the endorsements of Peña and Mejia were important. "To me, their endorsement means that he is going to have some clear commitment to some aspect of the Latino community," Luna said. But for Helen Giron, a former Mejia supporter, the endorsements were disappointing. She is supporting Hancock and wondered why she is seeing signs with "Romer and Mejia" on them. "Mejia's not running for anything," said, Giron, 59, a Chicano-studies instructor at Metro State College. "Why is he on the campaign sign?" On Sunday, state Rep. Crisanta Duran, D-Denver, a key Romer supporter, sent a blast e-mail reporting that Hancock had been "endorsed" by former Congressman Tom Tancredo, one of the nation's best-known advocates of tougher immigration policies and a lightning rod among Latinos. Tancredo, though, simply said he would vote for Hancock over Romer if he lived in Denver because of his personal story. Hancock said he never sought Tancredo's support and would "reject" an endorsement from him. But on Wednesday, Tancredo officially endorsed Romer, joking that he was trying to get former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and former Vice President Dick Cheney to join in. Romer spokeswoman Laura Chaplin said in a statement that the issue of the Tancredo endorsement "has provided some comic relief." Romer's main assault on Hancock, however, has come on the issue of Denver's participation in the Secure Communities program. The federal program matches the fingerprints of any person booked into jail against a database maintained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to check whether the offender has had contact with ICE and what his or her immigration status is. ICE officials decide whether someone convicted of a crime should be deported, and federal officials have said the program is aimed at the most serious of crimes, "level one" offenses that include murder, rape, drug trafficking and other "aggravated felonies." "Level two" offenders are those convicted of a single felony, such as a property crime or extortion, but also can include those convicted of three or more misdemeanors. Meanwhile, "level three" offenders include those convicted of up to two misdemeanors. 21 deported since January Since then-Gov. Bill Ritter signed an agreement with ICE in January to implement the program prior to its mandatory nationwide adoption in 2013, Denver, Arapahoe and El Paso counties have activated the system. ICE statistics show that through March, 21 illegal immigrants in Colorado had been removed from the country as a result of Secure Communities, including three level-one offenders; five level-two offenders; seven level-three offenders; and six people who were not convicted of crimes but were not in the country lawfully. Romer has said the program has "gone off the rails," sweeping up many people who have committed no crimes or only minor offenses and causing immigrants to not cooperate with police. He points out the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's inspector general is investigating the program to determine whether racial profiling is taking place. In a debate Saturday, he prodded Hancock to sign a pledge to "reject implementation" of Secure Communities in Denver with the exception of cases where offenders had been convicted of a felony. Hancock refused, saying the program is mandatory and that the city needed to be ready to implement it. Asked how he would "reject implementation," Romer first told The Denver Post, "We do not have to turn over anyone (to ICE), with the exception of felons." According to ICE policies, the only discretion a local jurisdiction has with Secure Communities is to choose not to be informed of an offender's immigration status after federal officials have run a fingerprint check against their databases. Still, that would not affect any decision taken by ICE authorities on the offender's immigration status. Romer later contacted The Post to say that he meant that before mandatory implementation in 2013, Denver could choose to "opt out" after having "opted in." In that time, while a federal review of the program is taking place, the city would only volunteer information to ICE about convicted felons, Romer said. "We are not going to continue in this pilot," he said. "We are going to opt out." Such a reversal, however, does not appear to be an option, according to ICE officials. The agency does not view communities as having "opted in" to the program, pointing out that all communities are on a schedule prior to 2013 to have the program running. But they said some cities and counties have said they were ready to start the program sooner than scheduled. "My understanding is once you're in, you're in," said Hancock.