No Polis, the migrant influx isn't just a "municipal issue": you own a bit of it yourself. Elephant habeus corpus? A Colorado judge says no.
No Governor, the migrant crisis in Colorado isn't something you can squirm out of.
The gigantic influx of migrants to this state is not just (as Polis puts it in the first link below): "...mostly a municipal issue, primarily in Denver."
Given how slick our governor is with words, I think I need to be careful to remark that his words above could be taken to mean different things (something I'm near to certain he was wanting when he chose them).
It could be that he means the problem is localized SPATIALLY around Denver. It could be that it's a problem that is faced mainly by Denver. It could be, and this is more speculative since it requires you seeing the connotation and not the definition of the words, Denver's problem to solve--the implication being that the state has no role to play in making it but will gladly help solve it.
This last sense bolstered by a later comment from Polis in the same article: "Polis also said his administration will work with Colorado cities that are dealing with new arrivals, adding, 'The state always tries to be helpful to our cities, however we can… It’s up to cities how they address it.'”
Let's unpack this a bit.
Regardless of the meaning Polis wanted to attach to his statements (if there is one meaning he wanted and not just wiggle room to squirm around in), we all get to deal with migrants one way or another.
Anyone purchasing anything as they go through Denver will help pay for it with Denver taxes. This says nothing about those living there.
Anyone passing through Denver will have to deal with it because as more people arrive that don't have housing SOMEONE (American or migrant) will be homeless that means more camps and more people on the streets.
It means more homeless spreading out from Denver.
It means, as the state has to help pay for these things, that all Coloradans get to chip in.
No, this isn't a municipal issue. Gov Polis you don't get to claim this in the same way you don't get to claim that the homelessness in and around state property in Denver weren't an issue for you.
Further, let's talk about the state's role in incentivizing and attracting migrants to Colorado. The three links just below the KDVR story link are examples of policy that Jared Polis has enacted that make this state easier to navigate if you're here illegally.
In order of the links ...
The first is a bill Polis signed in June 2023 to make it harder for ICE to do their jobs here in Colorado and make it harder for for them to hold people in civil detention for breaking immigration law. See screenshot 1 for the details from the bill's sumamary.
The second link is a press release from Polis office on the 10th anniversary of a bill where he touts expanding services in Colorado DMV's for people here illegally.
The third link is a CPR article about a bill Polis signed in June 2022 that expands Medicaid to both undocumented mothers and their children (up to age 18 for the kids) here in Colorado. Oh, and the best part? The first year's expenditures start at $2 million (and only go up from there to an estimated $27 million by fiscal year 25 - 26, though this will likely be an underestimate since the migrant population has exploded since the bill was signed). See the second screenshot from the bill.
Polis and the state's recent policy do not own the entire migrant crisis. Their policy has helped it along and has also (as you can clearly see in the third link) cost us money.
Only a career politician as duplicitous as Polis could make a statement as obviously contradictory and two-faced as that copied from the fourth link below (a Pueblo Chieftan story about the 2023 bill referenced above):
"Polis, in a statement released Tuesday evening, reiterated his stance that Colorado should not be a sanctuary state and that the bill 'merely prohibits local governments and the state from contracting directly with ICE for civil immigration enforcement.'”
And only a career politician as duplicitous as Polis could pretend to be swooping down to assist with a problem that only a few parts of Colorado have without once acknowledging his own role or responsibility.
https://kdvr.com/copov/gov-polis-weighs-in-on-colorados-migrant-crisis/
https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb23-1100
https://dmv.colorado.gov/press-release/during-event-to-celebrate-10-year-anniversary-of-landmark-legislation-dmv-announces
https://www.cpr.org/2022/06/07/colorado-expands-medicaid-access-undocumented-pregnant-people/
An update on elephant's rights.
I posted a bit back about an attempt by some animal rights groups to run an elephant habeas corpus petition up the flagpole; that is, an attempt to shoehorn in human rights for a zoo animal.
At that time the petition was in front of the court and was waiting judgment.
That judgment is now here and it is that the judge tossed it. Among other things (see more in the article below and taking the below as a quote from same):
"Judge Bentley wrote that the court must lean toward dismissal as it says the NhRP [Nonhuman Right Project the group behind the writ] is seeking the expansion of existing legal rights rather than enforcement of those rights, and because of this, it is an issue that should be appropriately directed to the legislature and not the courts."
Well, yeah. The issue for NhRP and others pushing agendas like "non human rights", however, is that their desires are so far outside the mainstream that they'd have one hell of a struggle getting things like this done legislatively.
And they know it so they go to the courts and try to sneak it in the backdoor.
The article didn't say whether or not the group would appeal, but if they do and I hear, I'll update again.
https://www.denver7.com/news/state-news/petition-filed-against-cheyenne-mountain-zoo-by-an-animal-rights-group-dismissed