Colorado Illegals Gone. Colorado Inmates Take Their Place.

Source: Rocky Mountain News

State prison inmates may soon be working the farm fields of Colorado as immigrant labor becomes more difficult to find due to tightening down of immigration laws.

The Pueblo Chieftain today reports that a pilot project would operate under the Department of Correction’s Correctional Industries Program that helps inmates find work while in prison so they can learn a skill at the same time.

DOC executive director Ari Zavaras said the program fits in the emphasis he and Gov. Bill Ritter have on reducing recidivism, which, in turn, cuts down on funding needed to build new prisons.

State Rep. Dorothy Butcher, D-Pueblo, started the idea with area farmers who complained the new crackdown on immigration and stringent documentation rules adopted by the Department of Revenue has made it impossible to find labor for their fields.

The farmers say immigrant workers, whether legal or not, are afraid to come to Colorado because of tougher immigration laws recently passed during a special Legislative session that they say makes it more difficult to get driver’s licenses and state identification cards.

Now I have an interesting perspective on all this as I worked in a Colorado jail. I can anticipate the liberal caterwauling on this one a mile away -- It's slavery!

Uh-huh, oddly the inmates wouldn't agree, by way of example the jail I worked had a garden out back that inmates were allowed to work, but only the best behaved inmates were allowed to go out there. This was a job the inmates fought bitterly to obtain and keep.

Think about it, these guys are stuck in a sealed conderblock room all day that smells like dirty gym socks and they don't get much physical activity. Add to that the fact that the majority of them would kill to be able to put some money aside for when they get out and a program like this adds up to be a winner on every level.

The most ironic part to me in any debate over this issue is the typical liberal stance of "looking out for the inmates," when a majority of the inmates would love the opportunity to do these jobs, ironic?

Uh, yeah.

Most of the guys coming into the jail were small time losers, small drug beefs, DUI, domestic stuff. The thing that would help them more than anything in transitioning back into the outside world is some pocket money.

Why exactly would we deny them that opportunity only to hand it to someone here illegally?

It's the definition of insanity!

Or, is are we simply a jobs program for Mexico and, as the liberals like to say, our most vulnerable citizens can go hang if they get in the way of the "jobs for Mexicans" program?

H/T immigration watchdog

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