Democrats in Colorado are making their state a refuge for migrants.
As of July 1, legal U.S. residency no longer is required to obtain state and local government benefits, professional licenses, or business permits, Axios Denver reported.
A legislative analysis said the expansion of eligibility to immigrants will cost taxpayers $12 million a year, Axios Denver said.
Gov. Jared Polis, D-Colo., signed a bill last year that makes available state benefits, including dental care, mental health counseling, and family services. It also expands eligibility for property tax, rent, and utility subsidies.
The city of Denver said it no longer would verify legal residency when issuing business licenses, and added it was accepting more forms of identification.
The Polis administration, however, appears to be proceeding more cautiously than its capital city, Axios Denver reported.
Polis spokesman Conor Cahill told Axios that the law didn't require the benefits to be available by July 1. He didn't say when, or, if, the administration would expand eligibility.
When he signed the law, Polis said that more legislative changes and a strong education campaign were needed to explain the "limited applicability."
The Colorado Municipal League and Colorado Counties association also could not tell Axios of any other local governments opening benefit programs.
Still, the new law is part of a Democrat effort to remove restrictions on state resources for immigrants without permanent legal status. It rolls back a bipartisan law signed by Republican Gov. Bill Owens in 2006.
In June, Polis signed a bill that made pregnant undocumented immigrants and their children eligible for Medicaid starting in 2025. That plan will cost taxpayers nearly $30 million a year, Breitbart reported.
"Expanding health-care coverage to all children, pregnant and postpartum people, regardless of immigration status, is fundamental to correcting the root causes of health inequities in Colorado," said Rep. Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez in a statement, CPR News reported.
"This law will be life-changing for undocumented children and pregnant people who call Colorado home and deserve to have access to the healthcare they need."
Colorado also has made it easier for high school students without legal residency to get in-state college tuition.
The blue state previously assisted migrants by allowing federal stimulus dollars in 2021 to go to those without lawful U.S. residency, and expanding a program to provide driver's licenses to immigrants without legal permission in 2019.
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