KOA news team allowed Schaffer to attack Udall by citing immigration-reduction group, without describing its agenda

Summary: While interviewing Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer on Newsradio 850 KOA, the Colorado's Morning News anchors failed to point out the "immigration-reduction" agenda of a website Schaffer cited as giving his Democratic opponent, U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, "F's on immigration." KOA's Steffan Tubbs and Lois Melkonian also failed to challenge Schaffer's false assertion that Denver and Boulder are so-called "sanctuary" cities, despite evidence to the contrary.

On the September 10 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's Colorado's Morning News, co-anchor Steffan Tubbs and guest co-anchor Lois Melkonian allowed their guest, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer, to attack his Democratic opponent, U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, using misleading or false information related to immigration.

Discussing issues related to the deaths of three people in a September 4 auto accident allegedly caused by Francis Hernandez, an illegal immigrant reportedly arrested 16 times in Colorado but never deported, Schaffer criticized Udall by citing the website NumbersUSA, where "Udall gets F's on immigration." But he did not identify the group's self-described agenda of "immigration reduction." Further, Schaffer repeated the myth that Denver and Boulder are so-called "sanctuary" cities "that as a function of local law have decided that they will not cooperate with federal immigration authorities." Neither Tubbs nor Melkonian asked Schaffer to substantiate his remarks. As Colorado Media Matters has noted repeatedly, Denver and Boulder are not "sanctuary" cities, according to numerous sources including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Congressional Research Service (CRS), and the two cities' police departments.

During the interview, Schaffer invited KOA listeners "to go to my website," where, he said, "I've put in blocks a section called 'Know the Difference' on immigration where you can see all of my votes in favor of immigration enforcement, to try to crack down on illegal immigration, and to take this issue seriously." Schaffer then proceeded to criticize Udall's record on immigration policy, referring listeners to another website:

SCHAFFER: So there's a long list there, and there's other websites; there's a website called, you can go to a website that is called profiles.numbersusa.com, and you can see vote after vote where Udall gets F's on immigration. He voted against punishing, just this year, punishing sanctuary cities. That vote died, 210 votes to 210 votes. Udall -- if Udall had voted differently, we would have seen the federal government taking cities like Denver and Boulder more serious, 'cause these are cities that as a function of local law have decided that they will not cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

Tubbs and Melkonian failed to point out that, as Colorado Media Matters has noted, NumbersUSA is a group that the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) identified as part of a web of anti-immigration groups founded by activist John Tanton. According to its website, NumbersUSA states, "Those who need to refer to NumbersUSA with a short, descriptive modifier should call it an 'immigration-reduction organization."

Contrary to Schaffer's statement that Denver and Boulder "will not cooperate with federal immigration authorities," the Denver Police Department Operations Manual (updated July 30, 2008) explicitly directs that "when a suspect believed to be an undocumented immigrant is arrested for other charges, a 'Refer to Immigration' charge will be added to the original charges. Sheriff's Department personnel will then notify the [Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement] authorities according to their procedures." In its July 2006 publication "The Spotlight," the Boulder Police Department stated that Colorado statute requires "[a]n officer who has probable cause that an arrestee for a criminal offense is not in the country legally shall report the arrestee to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) if they are not held in a detention facility." The department further noted, "If the arrestee is held at a detention facility and the county sheriff reasonably believes that the arrestee is not legally in the country, the sheriff shall report the arrestee to ICE."

Colorado Media Matters also has pointed out repeatedly that the Colorado statute enacted May 1, 2006, prohibits sanctuary policies, which the statute defines as "local government ordinances or policies that prohibit local officials, including peace officers, from communicating or cooperating with federal officials with regard to the immigration status of any person within the state."

Moreover, no Colorado jurisdiction appeared in a 2006 CRS report about immigration law listing "[c]ities and counties currently that have sanctuary policies." In fact, CRS singled out Colorado in its August 30, 2007, update to the report as a jurisdiction that has "taken steps to reject what they characterize as 'sanctuary policies.' "

From the September 10 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's Colorado's Morning News:

TUBBS: Bob, as you well know, and I'm not pointing fingers at you by any stretch, but politicians will say basically almost anything to get elected, especially on hot-button issues. Specifically, though, if you were elected to U.S. Senate, how are you gonna try to prevent stories like this from happening?

SCHAFFER: Well, it's -- here's what you should do. And we only have a short period of time, but one is, I'm running in a race for United States Senate against Mark Udall from Boulder. And I would invite people to go to my website, which is www.bobschafferforsenate.com, 'cause I've answered these questions there, and I've, in fact, I've put in blocks a section called "Know the Difference" on immigration where you can see all of my votes in favor of immigration enforcement, to try to crack down on illegal immigration, and to take this issue seriously. Not just when it comes to those who are involved in tragedies like we're talking about this morning, but in all cases. And that is in great contrast to Mark Udall's very poor record of, in fact, giving -- this Hernandez guy, Mark Udall introduced, sponsored legislation that would give this guy your tax money to pay for his college tuition. And I think providing those kinds of incentives for people to stay here illegally is just a bad idea. Now, it's not a criticism; it's just a difference between the two of us, and some people want to use your tax dollars to give college tuition benefits to those who -- visitors from other countries who are here illegally, then vote for Udall. And I'm just not one of those people; I think those tax dollars ought to be spent toward enforcement instead, so that we can get people like Hernandez out of the country sooner.

MELKONIAN: Uh --

SCHAFFER: So there's a long list there, and there's other websites; there's a website called, you can go to a website that is called profiles.numbersusa.com, and you can see vote after vote where Udall gets F's on immigration. He voted against punishing, just this year, punishing sanctuary cities. That vote died, 210 votes to 210 votes. Udall -- if Udall had voted differently, we would have seen the federal government taking cities like Denver and Boulder more serious, 'cause these are cities that as a function of local law have decided that they will not cooperate with federal immigration authorities --

MELKONIAN: Bob, I've got to ask you a question. One of the things ICE pointed out this morning that's so difficult with a man like Francis Hernandez, and maybe thousands more like him -- or even a higher number -- is the phony ID and the fact that he lived in the U.S. for his entire life and claimed all through this that he was a U.S. citizen, and it's so difficult for them to track this down without being given some other kind of information. What would you do, specifically, if elected to U.S. Senate to change that?

SCHAFFER: Well, I would not -- as I just mentioned, going back to this vote that Udall supported to, that was against providing sanctions for sanctuary cities. The answer is, I would work against those cities that want to provide documents, legal documents, to illegals.

—C.H. & J.F.B.