PUEBLO (Colorado) CHIEFTAIN

August 23, 2007

Lawmakers clarify plan for migrant workers

By CHARLES ASHBY
CHIEFTAIN DENVER BUREAU

DENVER - An erroneous report in a Denver newspaper Wednesday had two Southern Colorado lawmakers scrambling to set the record straight.

The Rocky Mountain News reported on its front cover that Sen. Abel Tapia, D-Pueblo, and Rep. Marsha Looper, R-Calhan, planned to create the nation's first state-run guest worker program.

But as reported in The Pueblo Chieftain on Aug. 14, the two lawmakers actually plan to use an existing federal guest worker program called H-2A and try to make it work better.

"We're not creating any new programs," Tapia said. "What we're trying to do is facilitate the existing ag workers program because the bureaucracy is so tough we can't get through it. We want to use the (Colorado) Department of Agriculture or Department of Labor to facilitate the H-2A program."

Tapia said this idea has nothing to do with a proposed guest-worker program that Congress considered, but did not pass earlier this summer.

"We just want to work within the system that is existing to date," he said.

Tapia and Looper said there is no way any state could legally bring workers into the country without issuing them visas, and only the federal government has that ability.

Looper said she has been in discussions with state, federal and even Mexican officials about the idea.

She said that while the details of the idea are still being worked out, she and Tapia expect to establish a state program - or one contracted out to a private entity - to match legal migrant workers with Colorado employers.

Looper said she hopes to use an existing international trade office Colorado already has in Guadalajara, Mexico's second largest city, to help get the worker-matching program off the ground. "The only intent is to streamline the existing process, not to come out with a whole new immigration policy," said Looper, adding that she began receiving angry calls from people who don't what the state to create its own guest-worker policy.

Looper said she and Tapia were even attacked on several Denver radio stations about the false story.

They said the idea will focus on farm workers, but won't necessarily be restricted to that.

"We need to have the discussion of, 'Do we want legal workers here from other countries?’ ” Looper said. "And if we do, we need to streamline that process. The existing federal program is not working. We want to help make it work."

House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, said that even if they wanted to, there's no way Tapia and Looper could create a state guest-worker program.

"I think that's pretty obvious," Romanoff said. "The state can not give legal status to people who are here illegally, only the federal government can do that."