We are listening here to Archuleta County Commissioner Warren Brown, speaking via telephone at the Tuesday, April 2 meeting of the Archuleta Board of County Commissioners’ morning work session. The other two commissioners — Ronnie Maez and Veronica Medina — and the admin staff had been provided with a draft resolution titled:
RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF ARCHULETA COUNTY, COLORADO DECLARING ARCHULETA COUNTY AS A NON-SANCTUARY COUNTY
You can download it here, understanding that it’s only a draft.
Commissioner Medina, like Commissioner Brown, was attending via telephone.
Commissioner Brown introduced the topic:
“About three weeks ago, we were discussing this in a work session, and I provided a sample of a resolution from an adjoining county — their declaration of a ‘Non-Sanctuary County’ — and we had a lot of good discussion about what we would like to see, or not see, in this document. So what I did was, I pulled up three different counties’ resolutions and provided them to Mr. Weaver [County Attorney] — they are from Montrose County, Mesa County and Douglas County — and I asked him to craft a resolution that essentially speaks to the ‘Non-Sanctuary County’ designation.
“So I had some feedback on this, from those in support, and from those not in support, of this proposed resolution. But I had this sent to each of you. I hope that you’ve had time to look it over so we can talk about this — if there is anything else that you would like to see added, or something you’d like to see omitted from what’s been proposed…”
As I mentioned in Part One, a previous BOCC had declared Archuleta County to be a ‘Sanctuary County’ in 2019… in a resolution meant to protest the passage of ‘red flag’ laws by the Colorado legislature. We will hear a reference to that resolution a bit later. But the current draft resolution, declaring Archuleta County to be a ‘Non-Sanctuary County’ did not refer to gun ownership, but rather, to whether migrants and immigrants were welcome in our community.
Apparently, Denver has been welcoming homeless immigrants escaping from violence and oppression in Central America — possibly a total of 37,000 such persons — and reportedly has spent $38 million caring for these immigrants. In other words, about $1000 per immigrant.
Now, Denver and other overwhelmed ‘Sanctuary Cities’ and ‘Sanctuary Counties’ want to bus some of the immigrants to other communities.
At least, that’s the current rumor.
Commissioner Maez:
“I’ve been reading [the resolution] over. It seems pretty clear to me. But I need to digest it some more.”
Commissioner Medina:
“I do have some questions. But I believe Sheriff Le Roux is there at the meeting, because I did speak to him this morning, and I think he wanted to give input on the resolution.”
Archuleta Sheriff Mike Le Roux was invited to the work session table to offer his perspective.
Sheriff Le Roux:
“I’m in support of a resolution. I think it really just identifies the County’s position on that status. It’s not necessarily enforceable under a resolution. There are certain state laws that inhibit [the Sheriff’s Office] from detaining or arresting people under illegal immigration status.
“I think what this goes to say is, that our resources, currently, are overwhelmed with the situation that we have. I just believe that we have to take care of our own, first, before we look at expanding, to bring in additional population which I don’t think we have the resources to sustain. So it ends up becoming a public safety issue.
“The public safety of Archuleta County residents is our utmost concern and priority…
“Looking at the verbiage. I think it’s pretty broad; it’s pretty generic. It hits the points that I certainly agree with…”
One of those points?
THEREFORE…
…Archuleta County declares that it is NOT a sanctuary county and will not open shelters or provide services, other than emergency services, to uninvited migrants and/or illegal immigrants that may arrive in unincorporated Archuleta County. Archuleta County will continue to prioritize the needs of our local citizens…
Sheriff Le Roux mentioned that he’s not opposed to legal immigration. He noted that, in fact, he is himself is an immigrant from Australia. As it turns out, an Australian immigrant can be elected County Sheriff, be paid a handsome salary, and presumably provide a valuable service to Archuleta County.
I can’t say for sure whether Mr. Le Roux was “invited” to immigrate to Archuleta County. Perhaps he was?
But maybe our BOCC wants to draw a line between immigrants from Australia — who, after all, speak a version of English — and immigrants from oppressed countries in Central America.
Commissioner Maez:
“I appreciate your support in this issue, because it does need to be addressed. And it needs to be clarified. We have limited resources here…
“It’s unlikely that we will get some. Even in the likelihood, we should be prepared. You just never know.”
Sheriff Le Roux:
“Absolutely. It’s a mind set, and it’s the position of Archuleta County. We know that certain counties around the state that haven’t asked for that… decentralization process to occur. And they’ve received multiple busloads of people, even as nearby as Fremont County…”
A frightening thought, apparently. While Archuleta County has been actively subsidizing a tourism industry — to the tune of more than $1 million a year — to bring in uninvited visitors each year, we must acknowledge that those tourists are like us. They have money, and they speak some version of English. Archuleta County is easily able to accommodate tens of thousands of tourists without putting any strain on our public safety services, or housing, or commercial and retail businesses.
Well, actually, maybe there is some strain on our community, caused by the tourism industry. But maybe it’s a good kind of strain?
But I was interested in learning more about the busloads of “people” that had arrived in nearby Fremont County.
An ugly rumor?
Bill Hudson began sharing his opinions in the Pagosa Daily Post in 2004 and can’t seem to break the habit. He claims that, in Pagosa Springs, opinions are like pickup trucks: everybody has one.