so proud of the ft collins community and their efforts as organizers. some brief words from my friend norberto, then the article addressing an anti-immigrant proposal that was defeated in city council this week.

Companheras/os in the Struggle for Human Rights:

Savor a sliver of time
in which to feel jubilant
over a small victory ...
before the next struggle begins.

During this precious moment,
cleanse our hearts,
smudge our surroundings momentarily
of lingering bad airs of hate and violence
with the powers of a feather,
a song, a dance, and a drum.

    --Norberto

FORT COLLINS – The city council killed an ordinance Tuesday that would have essentially directed the city to enforce state and federal employment laws.

A 4-3 vote against the measure, which would have allowed the city to punish contractors and subcontractors working on city projects that knowingly hire and continue to employ unauthorized workers, means it won’t come up for a second reading.

Ben Manvel, Karen Weitkunat, Doug Hutchinson and David Roy voted against the ordinance. Kurt Kastein, Diggs Brown and Kelly Ohlson, who led the effort to bring the measure to council, voted for the ordinance.

“Do we belong in the business of strengthening state and national laws through our system?” Weitkunat said.

The issue drew a heavy crowd, including 20 people who spoke publicly against the ordinance and five who spoke in support of it. Dozens of opponents of the ordinance wore fluorescent yellow stickers reading: “Immigration is a National Issue.”

“I don’t want the Choice City to become the Show Me Your Papers City,” said city resident Paul Bame.

The ordinance sought to assure the city that contractors on its major projects followed federal law, said City Attorney Steve Roy.

Ohlson said city tax dollars and city jobs should go to legal workers. He called state laws a “joke” and said federal laws had “failed.”

Under the ordinance, contractors or subcontractors that allowed unauthorized workers because of improper screening and documentation could have had their city contracts terminated and been banned from city projects for five years. Employers that falsely identified workers or falsely certified them could have faced penalties of $1,000 per offense.

The ordinance would have applied to construction contracts of at least $500,000 and service contracts worth at least $100,000.

The city would have enforced the rule by investigating written and signed complaints.

Federal law prohibits the hiring of unauthorized workers. Last summer, state legislators passed House Bill 1343, which requires contractors to certify that they haven’t hired unauthorized workers.

The city ordinance would have been stricter than state law in that it would have allowed for civil or criminal penalties.

Weitkunat said the city should give the eight-month-old state law a chance to work.

“We don’t even know what impacts and repercussions are coming from it,” Weitkunat said.

The council peppered its attorney and staffers with questions about the ordinance, how it would be enforced and what current laws require.

Mayor Doug Hutchinson said the city wasn’t “equipped” to enforce state and federal laws and shouldn’t “take on something our staff really can’t even understand.”

But killing the ordinance would send the wrong message, Ohlson said.

“We are saying it’s OK for city contracts to go to people who are not legal workers,” Ohlson said.

Added Ohlson: “We cannot be the sponge for the rest of the world. That’s what drives me on this issue.”

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