Former House Member Tom Tancredo Working on E-Verify Ballot Initiative in Colorado

Former House Member and immigration enforcement activist Tom Tancredo has filed the paperwork for a ballot initiative in Colorado that would require businesses to use E-Verify.

Tancredo’s initiative would require all Colorado businesses to verify the worker eligibility of all new hires using the Department of Homeland Security’s verification tool. Eleven other states mandate the usage of E-Verify in some capacity. Colorado currently requires state contractors to use E-Verify.

“I can’t think of a better time to bring this forward,” Tancredo said in a Denver Post article. “The fact that we’ve got high unemployment is enough to make people more sensitive to people working here illegally.”

If the ballot initiative passes, it would require the state legislature to pass a law requiring businesses to use E-Verify. The initiative needs to undergo a legal review before Tancredo can begin collecting the necessary signatures.

As a United States Congressman, Tom Tancredo formed the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus now headed by Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-Calif.) in 1999.