Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition Celebrates Supreme Court Ruling in Weld County Case

Colorado- Today, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the controversial Operation Number Games operation in Weld County attempting to criminalize immigrants and seize their tax records was illegal. The Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition (CIRC) responded with the following statement:



"Today's ruling confirms Operations Number Games to have been an egregious abuse of power by Weld County officials. Paying taxes is not a crime and should not be made to seem like one. Rather, it is what the US government asks of its residents.  Those targeted had their privacy rights violated. The ruling goes to show that the Constitution protects the basic rights of all US residents, regardless of suspected immigration status.

In the wake of this encouraging ruling, we must not ignore the unconstitutional disruption and devastation wrought by the Weld County Sheriff and District Attorney.  Sadly, this, like so many other local attempts to enforce federal immigration laws, was wrong-headed, costly and did great damage to the community.  This case demonstrates why we need solutions to our broken immigration system.  In a country of outdated immigration laws, people will continue to suffer.  With an untenable situation at hand, we need our leaders to take this issue up urgently, passing immigration reform legislation in the coming months."