Schultheis: Polis Comments "an embarrassment to the citizens of Colorado"

DENVER--State Senator Dave Schultheis, R-Colorado Springs, today slammed U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder, for comments the Boulder lawmaker made regarding immigration enforcement legislation recently enacted in the state of Arizona.

Polis--a co-author of several bills in Congress designed to provide amnesty and pave the way for a variety of taxpayer funded benefits for illegal aliens--characterized the Arizona law as "[R]eminiscent of second class status of Jews in Germany prior to World War II," and said Arizona is on its way to becoming "a police state."

The Arizona law, which enjoys broad public support, requires police to check with federal authorities on a person's immigration status if officers have already stopped that person for some legitimate reason and have a reasonable suspicion that the person might be in the U.S. illegally. The law makes clear that if the person produces a valid driver's license or other state-issued identification--something nearly every American and legal resident possesses--they are presumed to be in the United States legally.

"Apparently in Congressman Polis’s fantasy world, asking someone for their driver's license is the moral equivalent of state-sponsored genocide," said Schultheis, "This kind of irresponsible hyperbole is an embarrassment to the citizens of Colorado."

Presidential administrations of both political parties have ignored immigration laws and essentially looked the other way while tens of millions of foreigners crossed our border illegally or overstayed their visas in recent years. Schultheis noted that those illegal aliens end up in emergency rooms, schools, and jails--leaving state taxpayers to pick up the tab.

"Congressman Polis and other amnesty proponents love to tell us that enforcing the law is not a 'workable solution'," added Schultheis, "But how would they know? It is a strategy that has never been tried."

Schultheis added that local officials like Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper have made the problem worse by supporting so-called "sanctuary policies" – efforts that induce additional illegal immigration, and make it easier for those already in the country illegally to remain here undetected.

"H.L. Mencken once defined a demagogue as one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots.” Schultheis concluded, “Congressman Polis most certainly fits that definition."

Schultheis called on Colorado's U.S. Sens. Mark Udall, Michel Bennet and U.S. Reps. Diana DeGette, John Salazar, Betsy Markey, Doug Lamborn, Mike Coffman and Ed Perlmutter to condemn Polis's comments and stand with the people.