Immigration Reform A Central Issue in 2010 Election Debates

Several states, including Colorado, have both Senate and Gubernatorial elections this November. Although always a controversial issue, immigration policy is again a point of disagreement between political candidates, a fact that was showcased at the recent debates.

On Saturday, candidates for Colorado governor debated for the first time. Democratic candidate John Hickenlooper, Republican Dan Maes, and American Constitution Party candidate Tom Tancredo met to discuss their opinions on everything from charitable giving, to decreasing the size of government, to immigration. Tancredo accused Hickenlooper, the current Denver Mayor, of running a “sanctuary city.” He further claimed that because Hickenlooper had encouraged Denver to become a “sanctuary city” he had made it a “magnet” for undocumented immigrants. Hickenlooper firmly denied the labeling of Denver as a “sanctuary city.” Denver CBS news quotes Hickenlooper as responding, "The bottom line, it goes to every large city, every small city in this country, or almost everyone, we have the same challenges. There is not space in the prisons for everyone the Congressman wants us to put in jail." None of the candidates presented a clear plan for how they would address the issue of undocumented immigrants currently living in the state.

Immigration reform was also an issue in last week’s debate between Colorado’s Senate candidates Michael Bennet and Ken Buck. Bennet, the Democratic incumbent, is a co-sponsor of a federal bill to allow in-state tuition for some undocumented college students who are in the country illegally but came to the country as small children. Buck said he opposed extending in-state tuition without asking undocumented students to agree to military or community service as a way to earn their education.

See more coverage of the Colorado debates:
http://cbs4denver.com/campaign2010/buck.bennet.debate.2.1920033.html
http://cbs4denver.com/news/governors.debate.maes.2.1893985.html

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