President (To Win Colorado) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Biden*

(R) Donald Trump

80%

20%↓

CO-01 (Denver) See Full Big Line

(D) Diana DeGette*

90%

CO-02 (Boulder-ish) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Neguse*

90%

CO-03 (West & Southern CO) See Full Big Line

(D) Adam Frisch

(R) Jeff Hurd

(R) Ron Hanks

40%

30%

20%

CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado) See Full Big Line

(R) Lauren Boebert

(R) J. Sonnenberg

(R) Ted Harvey

20%↑

15%↑

10%

CO-05 (Colorado Springs) See Full Big Line

(R) Dave Williams

(R) Jeff Crank

(R) Doug Bruce

20%

20%

20%

CO-06 (Aurora) See Full Big Line

(D) Jason Crow*

90%

CO-07 (Jefferson County) See Full Big Line

(D) Brittany Pettersen

85%↑

 

CO-08 (Northern Colo.) See Full Big Line

(D) Yadira Caraveo

(R) Gabe Evans

(R) Janak Joshi

60%↑

40%↑

20%↑

State Senate Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

80%

20%

State House Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

95%

5%

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
June 18, 2020 01:44 PM UTC

DACA Ruling Exposes Colorado Republicans

  • 6 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
Clockwise from top left: Cory Gardner, Ken Buck, Doug Lamborn, and Scott Tipton.

The United States Supreme Court issued its second bombshell decision of the week following Monday’s decision in favor of LGBTQ workplace protections.

The Washington Post reports on today’s big ruling to preserve DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), which was announced by then-President Obama six years ago this week:

The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to dismantle the program protecting undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children, a reprieve for nearly 650,000 recipients known as “dreamers.”

The 5 to 4 decision was written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and joined by the court’s four liberals. It was the second, stunning defeat this week for the Trump administration, as the Supreme Court begins to unveil its decision in marquee cases.

It will likely elevate the issue of immigration in the presidential campaign, although public opinion polls have shown sympathy for those who were brought here as children and have lived their lives in this country. Congress repeatedly has failed to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

Senator Cory Gardner (R-Yuma) wasted little time this morning pretending that he is an advocate for immigrants. State Senator Julie Gonzales (D-Denver) was equally swift in calling bullshit on Gardner’s word salad:

Back in September 2017, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security formally rescinded the Obama-era DACA decision at the behest of Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The response from Colorado Republicans at the time was nothing if not consistent: All GOP members of the state’s Congressional delegation celebrated the move and stated unequivocally that the Trump administration was making the right legal decision (the same argument that the Supreme Court just dismissed):

♦ Rep. Scott Tipton (R-Cortez):

“President Obama circumvented the Constitution when he unilaterally created the DACA program without going through the legislative process. Today’s announcement by Attorney General Sessions shows this administration’s commitment to the rule of law.”

♦ Rep. Ken Buck (R-Greeley):

“We’re a nation of laws, and our immigration system must reflect that principle. I opposed President Obama’s DACA action because I believed it was wrong and unconstitutional, that ultimately Congress has the responsibility to craft our nation’s immigration laws. President Trump made the right choice by giving Congress time to pass legislation that secures our border from future illegal immigration while also addressing issues like DACA.”

♦ Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colorado Springs)

“After eight years of the Obama administration dismantling our immigration laws, I’m encouraged by the President’s commitment to cracking down on illegal immigration, securing our borders, and reversing the unconstitutional DACA program. I have always opposed any type of amnesty and will continue to do so.”

♦ Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Yuma):

“I have long said that we need to have a legislative solution to fix our broken immigration system – this also includes children living in this country without documentation who were brought here by no fault of their own. I’m currently working with my colleagues in Congress about the next legislative steps we can take to ensure these children continue to have the opportunity to be in this country. We are in this situation today because the program was created through executive action by the previous administration instead of through Congress. We now have the opportunity to fix this issue through the legislative process.” [Pols emphasis]

Trust me, I’m on it!

Soon afterward, Gardner did sign on as a co-sponsor of The DREAM Act, which was quite the departure from his previous positions on immigration reform — notably a 2013 vote to prevent DACA from being implemented. As Blair Miller wrote for Denver7 in September 2017:

In 2013, both Coffman and Gardner, who was then a member of the House of Representatives, voted in favor of an amendment from Rep. Steve King of Iowa to the Homeland Security appropriations bill that prohibited DACA from being implemented. [Pols emphasis]

The House did not consider the so-called “Gang of Eight” immigration reform bill passed by the Senate that year, which contained DACA protections as well. Bennet was one of eight senators–four Democrats and four Republicans–who helped craft the bill.

Gardner moved up to the U.S. Senate in 2015, and he has since regularly claimed that he is working hard to get immigration reform measures passed in upper chamber — though nothing ever seems to happen in that regard. In fact, Congressional Republicans have done precisely JACK SQUAT about immigration reform in the nearly three years since the Trump administration tried to smother DACA with a pillow. President Trump himself later derided efforts to protect immigrants from what he called “shithole countries.” And what did Colorado Republicans have to say about those remarks in January 2018? As The Denver Post reported:

A spokesman for U.S. Rep. Ken Buck said the Windsor Republican does not have a response to the matter.

Email messages Friday to representatives for U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., and U.S. Reps. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, and Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, were not returned.

But let’s get back to Gardner, who swears up and down that he is totally working every day on getting something done in the U.S. Senate. “I’ll continue to work across the aisle to deliver certainty for Dreamers in a way the Court cannot,” said Gardner today. This is similar to what he told constituents in August 2019:

Gardner affirmed that he sponsored the Dream Act (without mentioning the Dream and Promise Act), and said, “I fight each and every day to find those six votes [that would pass it].

In June 2019, Democrats in the House of Representatives did what Gardner only talks about in passing the American Dream and Promise Act. The bill was read in the U.S. Senate on June 10, 2019 and promptly shelved by Senate Republicans.

If Gardner is not flat-out lying when he says that he is working “each and every day” to advance protections for DREAMERs, then his repetitive comments prove that he is completely ineffective in actually getting something done on the issue.

When it comes to immigration reform, Gardner is either lying or impotent. It really is this simple.

Comments

6 thoughts on “DACA Ruling Exposes Colorado Republicans

    1. With our assortment of lolberts and other schlubs, it only took 48% for Gardner to win the seat in 2014. But yeah, the sentiment applies just the same.

  1. The Ttumpettes got no one to blame for this debacle except Ttump and his MisAdministration.   They could’ve eliminated DACA if they weren’t inept and incompetent, and had followed legal procedure . . . 

    . . . In stupid vs. evil, they got both — but predominantly teh stupid.

  2. Maybe Cory learned something about negotiation from the effort to get the LWCF fully funded in the Conservation bill? 

    There are several versions of legislation already endorsed by the House and immigration activists.  If Cory truly believes the Senate ought to act to provide some certainty …. I'm betting all he'd need to do is clarify some terms with Sen. Schumer and recruit three Republicans to work with him to convince McConnell to put the bills on the calendar. Sen. Graham wrote and endorsed the Gang of Eight proposal in 2013-14.  Maybe he'd help out.

Leave a Comment

Recent Comments


Posts about

Donald Trump
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Lauren Boebert
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Yadira Caraveo
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado House
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado Senate
SEE MORE

66 readers online now

Newsletter

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!