Tuesday, November 26

Colorado will seek that some of its undocumented residents can legally work in the state

By: EFE

The legislature of Colorado will consider in its session 2021, which will begin in February, several bills to allow certain immigrants undocumented have access to professional licenses and can register to work legally in this state, local Latino legislators indicated Tuesday.

At a press conference, State Senator Robert Rodríguez and State Representative Alex Valdez, both Democrats, argued that along with health and housing, the issues of immigration are part of the priorities for the new session of the Colorado legislature, which after the elections of last November now has 13 Hispanics enter its 100 members.

As is obvious, Valdez said , the highest priority, shared by all legislators without imp reducing your political affiliation, will reduce the effect that the pandemic of COVID – 19 It has in the state.

But among Latino legislators, efforts will focus on responding to the “disproportionate impact” that the coronavirus has had in that community and other minority groups, Valdez commented.

And a form of Helping Hispanics recover economically and socially from the problems generated by the pandemic is to allow certain undocumented immigrants (for example, “people of good moral character”) to access occupational licenses , a process that began in 2017 for certain professions and that could eventually include the practice of law, as has already happened in the neighboring state of Utah since January 2020.

In Colorado, according to a study by the Center Mercatus of George Mason University, 17. 5% of active workers need a license to practice their profession, including 24 low or moderate income occupations s (cosmetology, extermination of pests), which still require at least one year of studies.

Senator Rodríguez considered that the proposed measure is necessary to “ protect the rights of all workers “, of the same way in which “for example, workers in refrigerators or supermarkets are protected.”

Another bill will seek to expand opportunities for certain immigrants without a permanent presence in the country (such as program beneficiaries deferred action for child arrivals, or DACA) can register for jobs until now reserved for citizens or residents per manents . The list of those jobs has not yet been provided.

And another initiative will allow, if approved, that the current program that the City of Denver offers from 2017 of free legal advice for certain undocumented persons who must appear in court to be expanded to the entire state , without using public funds to pay for the services of lawyers, but using limited public funds for the operating expenses of the non-profit organizations that coordinate that assistance.

Therefore, warned Representative Valdez, this project depends on the state budget having the funds that the initiative requires.

Democratic legislators will also manage the expansion of the scope of two laws passed in 2020, one that protects immigrants (regardless of their legal status) when renting homes, and another that facilitates immigrants’ access to certain medical care.

“You can’t take care of your health if you don’t have a good place to live and you can’t pay for health care if you don’t even have enough to pay for rent, ”Valdez pointed out.

The Colorado Legislature will meet briefly on 13 of January to determine at that time when their regular sessions will begin, but it is anticipated that there will be no sessions before mid-February and that sessions could start even later, depending on the pandemic.

In Colorado, according to the Census Bureau, 10% of the 5.7 million inhabitants were born abroad . And according to the Coalition for Immigrant Rights (CIRC), there are some 150, 000 undocumented .