DENVER (AP) — Immigrant rights advocates say a 2006 Colorado law requiring police to report suspected illegal immigrants has resulted in detentions for low-level crimes and longer jail stays.
The report authored by the left-leaning Colorado Fiscal Institute estimates that it costs the state about $13 million annually to enforce the law and that the money is enough to hire 200 additional police and sheriff’s deputies instead.
The law requires law enforcement to notify immigration officials when they arrest someone suspected of being in the country illegally.
Supporters of the legislation have argued it’s a way to make sure immigration laws are enforced. The law was among a package of bills lawmakers passed amid heightened concern over illegal immigration in 2006.
The report was released Wednesday.
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