Stiff Colorado Illegal Alien Law Brings Unexpected Costs
As reported in a Rocky Mountain News article, Colorado's new tougher immigration enforcement law may have unexpected costs. Several state agencies have put in requests for a combined $2.5 million in budget increases in order to properly implement the new law. Supporters of the bill had said the agencies would be able to handle any increased workload within their original budgets. Excerpts from the article:
The Colorado legislature passed the measure during a special session in July, a law some say imposes the toughest immigration rules in the nation.
House Bill 1023 went into effect Aug. 1 and establishes strict identification rules that require tens of thousands of Coloradans to prove to local and state agencies they're in the country legally before they can obtain most government benefits.
Several agencies said Monday they are still working to identify the programs that fall under the law's umbrella as well as 15 other measures passed this summer and last spring that overlap and present their own set of challenges.
The Department of Revenue, for example, has fielded numerous complaints of longer wait times at DMV offices as clerks verify the legal immigration status of people applying for licenses and identification cards.
Also, more than 1,700 people have been caught attempting to use fake documents to get a driver's license or ID card in just the first month of the new law.
Meanwhile, Colorado's 64 counties are in charge of administering welfare benefits such as food stamps and Medicaid to more than 100,000 residents. And, many county human services departments have had to hire additional workers to verify the legal status of people applying for benefits, said Liz McDonough, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Human Services.
"We're getting into the more difficult areas of the legislation to determine certain aspects of what services are in or out," she said. "You can predict some of the costs and certain things, but as more things and more situations come to light, we'll have to determine the needs accordingly."
State officials said it will likely take months before they clearly understand the costs and scope of the new immigration laws. "It's important to remember that we're two months out from the special session. It's relatively soon," Sobanet said. "If it turns out that people were getting benefits they shouldn't have been, then we may see a reduction in costs. But that remains to be seen."
