"The action of the Colorado Supreme Court saved Colorado voters from an expensive campaign on what even the initiative's supporters agreed was a purely symbolic measure," said Wade Buchanan, president of the Bell Policy Center. "It would have been a campaign centered on a false choice."

The Bell Policy Center was not a party to the case that led to Monday's decision. However, Bell announced its opposition to the Defend Colorado Now initiative in December 2005, noting that the measure would cost more to implement than it would save, would make it more difficult for citizens and legal residents to get government services, and would open state and local governments to a wave of costly litigation from anyone suspecting a violation.

"Immigration is a serious issue, and it isn't going away because of this decision," Buchanan said. "But it's a national problem. Real solutions can't be found at the state level -- they have to come from the federal level, similar to what the president and U.S. Senate have proposed.

"The first part of that solution has to come in fixing the numbers: balancing the number of work visas issued with the demand for workers in this country," he said.

"At Bell Policy Center, we are going to keep documenting the effects of immigration in Colorado, both the economic contributions from immigrants and the costs to taxpayers. Our reporting, as always, will be based on real numbers and reliable studies," he added.

More information from the Bell Policy Center on immigration issues:
www.thebell.org/Immigration.html