To back up a dubious claim that Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter “has run, in effect, a sanctuary city” for illegal immigrants, Rocky Mountain News media critic and Independence Institute research director Dave Kopel said on the October 20 edition of KBDI Channel 12's Colorado Inside Out that “if you say you're an illegal alien, and you commit a felony ... the Denver DA is going to make sure you get a plea deal so that you can stay in the country.” In fact, according to the Denver district attorney's office and recent reporting by several media outlets, it was never the policy of Ritter's office to “offer a plea deal” that would allow an illegal immigrant to avoid deportation. Instead, according to Denver district attorney's office spokesperson Lynn Kimbrough, it was “standard procedure” to refer the illegal immigration status of suspected criminals to federal immigration authorities.

In a discussion about the Colorado governor's race between Ritter and Republican candidate Bob Beauprez, Kopel stated that Ritter's plea-bargaining of certain cases while serving as Denver district attorney “seem[ed] awfully sanctuaryish.” According to Kopel:

KOPEL: But I've got to say the lucky guy this year is clearly Bill Ritter and -- although, a great deal of his luck has to do with how well he is treated by the press. I mean, this is a guy who has run, in effect, a sanctuary city -- he didn't call it that -- but if you say you're an illegal alien and you commit a felony and the Denver DA is going to make sure you get a plea deal so that you can stay in the country, that seems awfully sanctuaryish. And as a result of his sanctuary-style policies, we have a child who was sexually assaulted by a recidivist -- and now Ritter is the victim. That's quite a turnabout there.

However, as CBS4 reporter Raj Chohan noted in the written version of an October 12 “Reality Check” of an anti-Ritter campaign ad, the Denver DA's office has stated that under Ritter, its policy was to refer the illegal immigration status of suspected criminals to federal immigration authorities.

The Beauprez-sponsored attack ad, “Case File,” states that Ritter plea-bargained with an illegal immigrant named Carlos Estrada Medina who was arrested on suspicion of distributing heroin. According to the ad, Medina later was arrested for sexually assaulting a minor in California. As various media outlets have reported, the suspect in the Denver heroin charges was arrested under the name Walter Ramo. The suspect in the California case was arrested under the name Eugene Estrada. Relying on information from what it called a “proprietary” source, the Beauprez campaign asserted in defending its anti-Ritter ad that Medina, Ramo, and Estrada are the same person.

In his “Reality Check” analysis of the anti-Ritter ad, Chohan reported the comments of Kimbrough, who claimed that it would have been “standard procedure to refer Ramo's illegal immigration status to federal immigration authorities.” According to Chohan:

[Ritter's office] sent Ramo to drug court, where Lynn Kimbrough tells me, the standard procedure would have been to refer Ramo's illegal immigration status to federal immigration authorities. Kimbrough could not confirm whether this happened in Ramo's case, just that it was policy at the time to do so.

Similarly, an October 12 News article also quoted Ritter as saying -- contrary to Kopel's claim -- that his office's use of plea-bargains in certain cases “didn't change the deportation status of an illegal immigrant. ... No matter what they pleaded guilty to, they were deportable and should be deported.”

An October 11 Rocky Mountain News article paraphrased Ritter as saying during a debate that “his office always notified federal authorities they had detained an illegal immigrant and were often told there weren't enough resources to have them deported.”

Colorado Media Matters has previously addressed the claim that Denver is a so-called “sanctuary city” and has noted significant evidence that it is not.

Later in the broadcast of Colorado Inside Out, regular panelist and former civil rights attorney Dani Newsum stated, “I'm tired of hearing that Denver is a sanctuary city. I think Bill Ritter has said again and again and again regarding these -- regarding the plea bargains that ... a person who is in this country illegally -- an undocumented immigrant -- can be deported for any reason, can be deported for a misdemeanor, and his concern was with those who were generally in the country legally.”

From the October 20 edition of KBDI Channel 12's Colorado Inside Out with host Peter Boyles:

KOPEL: But I've got to say the lucky guy this year is clearly Bill Ritter and -- although, a great deal of his luck has to do with how well he is treated by the press. I mean, this is a guy who has run, in effect, a sanctuary city -- he didn't call it that -- but if you say you're an illegal alien and you commit a felony and the Denver DA is going to make sure you get a plea deal so that you can stay in the country, that seems awfully sanctuaryish. And as a result of his sanctuary-style policies, we have a child who was sexually assaulted by a recidivist -- and now Ritter is the victim. That's -- that's quite a turnabout there.

[...]

NEWSUM: I'm tired of hearing that Denver is a sanctuary city. I think Bill Ritter has said again and again and again regarding these -- regarding the plea bargains that, well, again and again and again, that a person who is in this country illegally -- an undocumented immigrant -- can be deported for any reason, can be deported for a misdemeanor, and his concern was with those who generally were in the country legally. Now the problem is, when you have somebody -- I don't care if they're a citizen, if they're a legal resident, or they're an illegal resident -- if they get off on a plea bargain, which happens -- you ask any DA, ask any governor, ask Michael Dukakis -- you have somebody who gets off on a plea-bargain and then turns around and commits a heinous crime, and then decides to run for office, they can have that thrown back at them.