On September 21, Newsradio 850 KOA host “Gunny” Bob Newman falsely claimed that when Denver police arrested Jose Luis Rubi-Nava following an April traffic stop, “Denver was a sanctuary city at the time under Mayor John Hickenlooper.” Discussing Rubi-Nava's April arrest in the context of his arrest for a recent murder, Newman asserted, “It was his [Hickenlooper's] policy that allowed this guy to stay right here,” adding that Denver police “were forbidden” from “giv[ing] him [Rubi-Nava] to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.” In fact, the Denver Police Department's Operations Manual explicitly states that “when a suspect believed to be an undocumented immigrant is arrested for other charges, a 'Refer to Immigration' charge will be added to the original charges. Sheriff's Department personnel will then notify the B.I.C.E. [federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement] authorities, according to their procedures.” This regulation apparently would have applied to Rubi-Nava's arrest.

In stating that “Denver was a sanctuary city at the time” [emphasis added], Newman presumably was suggesting a distinction between Denver police policy as it stood at the time of Rubi-Nava's arrest in April and a supposed change resulting from the enactment on May 1 of a Colorado law. That law prohibits “sanctuary” policies, which the law defines as “local government ordinances or policies that prohibit local officials, including peace officers, from communicating or cooperating with federal officials with regard to the immigration status of any person within the state.” The law requires that police and sheriff's officials notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) if they believe an arrestee is an illegal immigrant. According to the Denver Police Department's handbook, this already was police policy in Denver.

The Rocky Mountain News reported September 21 that Denver police stopped Rubi-Nava on April 21 because the license plates on the car he was driving “came up on a national database as associated with a wanted party.” Officers arrested Rubi-Nava after noticing that the Mexican identification card he presented appeared to be forged. The News reported that, according to the Denver Sheriff's Department, Rubi-Nava spent the night of April 21 “in jail” and that he “was charged April 22 with providing false identification, driving without a valid license and having no proof of insurance.” According to the News, he was “released on his own recognizance” after being charged, and “all three charges were dismissed April 27.”

As Colorado Media Matters has noted, media outlets have issued conflicting reports on whether Denver police flagged Rubi-Nava as a suspected illegal immigrant. But regardless of whether Denver police officials failed to flag Rubi-Nava's immigration status, Newman's suggestion that there was a specific “sanctuary” policy that forbade police from reporting Rubi-Nava to ICE is false.

Colorado Media Matters has noted that the Denver Police Department Operations Manual generally prohibits police officers from taking “enforcement action against a person solely because he/she is suspected of being an undocumented immigrant” [emphasis added]. However, the manual also states that an undocumented immigrant who, like Rubi-Nava, is being arrested for other charges shall receive a “Refer to Immigration” charge and that the Denver Sheriff's Department shall then notify Immigration and Customs Enforcement:

104.5 2/3b: Generally, officers will not detain, arrest or take enforcement action against a person solely because he/she is suspected of being an undocumented immigrant.

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104.5 2/3c: However, when a suspect believed to be an undocumented immigrant is arrested for other charges, a 'Refer to Immigration' charge will be added to the original charges. Sheriff's Department personnel will then notify the B.I.C.E. authorities, according to their procedures.

The current version of the pertinent section of the manual -- “Arrest/Detention of Foreign Nationals” -- most recently was revised in July 2006. A previous version of the section (maintained on the AmericanBorderSecurity.net website, which calls itself “the web's most informative site on anti-illegal alien news and events”) was revised in July 2005 and presumably was in effect at the time of Rubi-Nava's April 2006 arrest. The two versions of the section are substantively the same, with the only difference being that the earlier version identifies the federal agency that the Sheriff's Department should notify of the arrest of a suspected illegal immigrant as the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Upon its establishment as part of the Department of Homeland Security in March 2003, ICE took over the law-enforcement functions of the INS.

As Colorado Media Matters has noted, a 2004 report by the U.S. Congressional Research Service -- Congress' non-partisan research and analysis arm -- identified “sanctuary cities” as those that have adopted “a 'don't ask-don't tell' policy where they don't require their employees, including law enforcement officers, to report to federal officials aliens who may be illegally present in the country.” The report's list of U.S. "[c]ities and counties currently that have sanctuary policies" did not include any in Colorado.

As Colorado Media Matters also has noted, Gov. Bill Owens (R) recently declared September 16, 2006, “Gunny Bob Day” in recognition of, among other things, Newman's work “educating and enlightening Colorado citizens.”

From the September 21 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's The Gunny Bob Show:

NEWMAN: Some people feel that Mayor Hickenlooper should be held in some way accountable for the dragging death of the woman in Douglas County. After all, the accused -- he was in court today -- is believed to be an illegal alien, and he allegedly dragged her to her death, almost two miles tied to a rope tied to his vehicle. The other end of the rope was around her neck. Do you think -- and remember, Denver was a sanctuary city at the time under Mayor John Hickenlooper. So should Hick be held accountable in some way for this? It was his policy that allowed this guy to stay right here, and now someone's dead. Or are you good with the Denver Police Department being forced to let her would-be killer go? It's not the cops' fault. It is not the cops' fault. This is pinned on the mayor.

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NEWMAN: Had Denver accepted its responsibility and given the suspect in the dragging death murder of this woman in Douglas County -- had they given him to Immigration and Customs Enforcement -- but the cops couldn't, they were forbidden from doing it -- don't, do not blame the cops -- they were just following their orders, that's all. It's highly likely that the murder victim, who died from strangulation and who died from her head repeatedly striking the ground while she was being dragged for almost two miles, would be alive and well today.