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Jared Polis Appointed to House Judiciary Committee

By Jeralyn, Section Colorado News
Posted on Wed May 05, 2010 at 09:58:26 PM EST
Tags: Jared Polis (all tags)
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Colorado Rep. Jared Polis has been appointed to the House Judiciary Committee. He says he is looking forward to working on immigration reform.

What does he think of Arizona's law? He's denounced it.

[I]t is Congress that needs to act to pass comprehensive immigration reform. The people of Arizona want a solution. They have sunken to desperate and unconstitutional means and have sent a signal to us, here in the Capitol, to take action to fix this important issue. It should take no courage for members of Congress to support immigration reform. (my emphasis.)

[More...]

In a floor speech to the House when Arizona first passed SB 1070: The bill will thwart efforts to curb racial profiling and result in increased crime.

On Tuesday, lawmakers in Arizona passed new immigration enforcement legislation that allows local law enforcement officials to single out undocumented immigrants based solely upon a ``reasonable belief'' that they are undocumented and imprison them for up to 6 months. This bill will significantly undermine the efforts of many law enforcement agencies towards curbing racial profiling by police throughout the country and will increase crime by taking cops off their beats fighting crime and instead using them to enforce Federal immigration laws.

Arizona would force untrained State police officers to take the role of Federal immigration agents and somehow make the determination of whether the person is documented or not based upon their subjective belief or observations. It effectively mandates local police to engage in racial profiling and discrimination. This law would mandate the arrest of a person who can't present documentation of legal status. We can imagine all sorts of abuses and unnecessary harassment that will result from such an ill-conceived law. When one goes to the grocery store or takes one's kids to school, do we take a passport with us? I know I don't.

Rep. Polis wrote a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder telling him to stand by his word and stop medical marijuana raids.

I think Polis is a welcome addition to this important committee, through which so many crime bills pass. I don't think he's as progressive on these issues as I'd like, but I've always found him willing to listen, and that's a big deal in these crazy times. Congrats, Jared.

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    Jared Polis Appointed to House Judiciary Committee | 4 comments (4 topical)

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    Not bad for a freshman. (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by MileHi Hawkeye on Wed May 05, 2010 at 10:17:29 PM EST
    Congrats to Rep. Polis.  

    My only hope is that he realizes that he's in a safe seat and there's no real political danger in truly representing the people of his district.

    But you're right--he is a good listener.  He's one of the few politicians that I've seen who will put up a blog post and actually participate in the ensuing conversation.  

    but which reform? (none / 0) (#2)
    by diogenes on Wed May 05, 2010 at 10:41:49 PM EST
    Easy to say that we need "reform", but with 60 percent of Americans supporting either the Arizona law or something tougher (by NY Times poll), perhaps the reform that is desired is a tightening of the borders and control of those who employ undocumented aliens nationwide.  In other words, the Arizona law with a safeguard requiring probable cause not related to alien status to make a stop (i.e. criminal probable cause).  
    I wouldn't view minorities as a monolithic bloc on this.  I can't see why American blacks or Cubans/Puerto Ricans who are here legally would see that it serves their self-interests at all to legalize tens of millions of immigrants via an amnesty and maintain an open border.

    Okay (5.00 / 1) (#3)
    by MKS on Thu May 06, 2010 at 12:57:08 AM EST
    No monoliths.  So, Republicans get 20% of the Latino vote after this.   If you try real hard, that number could end up being 10%.

    After all, the GOP's opposition to Civil Rights led to a permanent realignment of the African American vote-Al Gore getting 90% of that vote.

    I know you think it can't or won't happen based on your logical analysis of the issue.  Yet, you continue to ignore the results of Prop 187, current polling among Latinos, and Rove and others from the Bush administration who think this a giant mistake.

    Sure, you get 60% in support of the new Arizona statute in a current poll--and that probably understates the view by a few points--but Prop 187 won by a large margin too.

    But of course the majority can push things that a minority would oppose.....

    Parent

    Justice should not be held up... (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by mexboy on Thu May 06, 2010 at 03:04:26 AM EST
    for a popularity contest.

    Slavery was widely popular, so was rounding up and interning Japanese citizens during WWII, denying women equal rights and the right to vote, denying equal rights to GLBT people, segregation, etc.

    The day you have a target on your back is the day you might understand the consequences of such laws.

    Parent

    Jared Polis Appointed to House Judiciary Committee | 4 comments (4 topical)

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