In a July 25 Denver Post article, staff writer Erin Emery uncritically repeated a dubious assertion by Jeff Crank, a Republican congressional candidate in Colorado's 5th District, that Denver is a so-called “sanctuary city” with a policy that, in Emery's words, “say[s] law enforcement does not have to report illegal immigrants to federal officials.” A federal immigration spokesman has stated that he knows of “no Colorado city” that has a policy against reporting illegal immigrants to federal officials, a policy that is prohibited under Colorado law.

From Emery's July 25 Denver Post article, “Militia founder endorses Lamborn”:

Jeff Crank, a former aide to [Rep. Joel] Hefley [R-Colorado Springs], thinks federal funding should be cut off to “sanctuary cities.”

[...]

Crank, a former vice president of the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce, said he would introduce legislation to end federal funding to so-called sanctuary cities, municipalities that say law enforcement does not have to report illegal immigrants to federal officials.

“If Denver doesn't want to help enforce the laws of the United States on immigration, then they don't deserve our federal tax dollars -- that's the way I look at it.”

A Colorado statute, enacted May 1, that prohibits such “sanctuary” policies defines them 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.” In contrast with the Post's uncritical reporting of Crank's suggestion that Denver is a “sanctuary” city, in a June 11 article, the Rocky Mountain News quoted Carl Rusnok, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesman for Colorado, saying: “There aren't any cities in Colorado that refuse to call us. ... I know of no Colorado city that has a policy against calling ICE.”

Crank's comments in the Post echo similar allegations made by KHOW radio host Peter Boyles. On July 25, Boyles asserted that, in order to stop illegal immigration, "[w]e start with ending sanctuary like Denver has." During an interview with Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Littleton) on Boyles's June 28 show, Boyles said that Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff (D-Denver) “didn't know that Denver was a sanctuary city or wouldn't even comment on it.” Boyles later added, “I've told you so many times about Romanoff: didn't even know anything at all about sanctuary. Denver is sanctuary.”

Similarly, Boulder Daily Camera columnist and former Boulder mayor and Republican congressional candidate Bob Greenlee suggested in his June 25 column that Boulder is a “sanctuary city” and that a proposed Immigrant Advisory Committee to be created by the Boulder City Council would work to ensure the city “disengages” from that status:

The committee also could make sure our community disengages from being a “sanctuary city” where illegal immigrants are either overlooked or granted rights they are not entitled to, such as not being reported to Immigration and Customs when they break our laws, or not being arrested for obtaining and using fake documents. No community should be complicit in breaking immigration laws.

The News article noting Rusnok's statement that no known “Colorado city ... has a policy against calling ICE” also reported that a News investigation “found that some local law-enforcement officials indeed fail to turn in immigrants, including some criminals they know are here illegally. But it has nothing to do with any sanctuary policy.” The News added that local law enforcement officials in Colorado “say they know ICE lacks the people or places to deal with them, a message ICE officials have delivered personally. And local jails are too full to hold them while deportation orders are processed.”

According to its website, ICE “is the largest investigative branch of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The agency was created after 9-11, by combining the law enforcement arms of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the former U.S. Customs Service, to more effectively enforce our immigration and customs laws and to protect the United States against terrorist attacks.”

The News article also referred to Section 104.52 (3) of the Denver Police Department Operations Manual, which states: “Generally, officers will not detain, arrest, or take enforcement action against a person solely because he/she is suspected of being an undocumented immigrant.” However, the manual further explains 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 I.N.S. authorities according to their procedures.' ” According to the News, “Denver sends ICE the names of jailed foreign-born inmates. So do other counties in Colorado.”

From the July 25 broadcast of KHOW's The Peter Boyles Show:

CALLER: I've been telling people for 10 years what's going on -- that we're being invaded. I'm the guy who, on your Thanksgiving Day parade, two or three years ago, told you [Mexican President] Vicente Fox said: “If we inundate, you must educate.”

BOYLES: Well, that's well said. I mean, it's --

CALLER: It's going on now, and we will never stop this until we force the Mexican government to change its corruption.

BOYLES: We don't -- [caller] --

CALLER: Mexico has more billionaires than anybody else --

BOYLES: [Caller] -- [caller] --

BOYLES: -- and we are being forced to educate, feed, house all their people.

BOYLES: I mean, everything you say is true except for forcing Mexico. We don't have to force Mexico. All we have to do is enforce a wall, build a wall and start hammering the big corporate headquarters of these guys.

CALLER: I agree with that.

BOYLES: We start with ending sanctuary like Denver has. We reverse court decisions. And you do it to save the nation, not to be a racist, not to be a hatemonger.

From the June 28 broadcast of The Peter Boyles Show:

BOYLES: When you see Andrew Romanoff saying this is great and how welcome it is -- this is a guy who, the last time he appeared on KHOW, didn't know that Denver was a sanctuary city or wouldn't even comment on it.

CALLER: You know, if a cop knows it, how come he doesn't?

BOYLES: Listen, they passed legislation about it!

[...]

BOYLES: I said it to [former Colorado] Governor [Richard] Lamm [D], I said it to [former Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform director] Fred Elbel: “Please, God, make you guys right.”

TANCREDO: Yeah, that's right.

BOYLES: Because my sense of this is: I've watched the Democrats in action. They have done -- they're less than doing anything. They're welcoming. I mentioned -- I've told you so many times about Romanoff: didn't even know anything at all about sanctuary. Denver is sanctuary. But a law comes through that says, “We're gonna prohibit sanctuary policy.” That must have been a very puzzling morning for Speaker Romanoff. Monday, the Colorado Supreme Court says, “We won't re-hear it. We won't re-hear the Defend Colorado Now petition.”