April 03, 2026 09:57 AM UTC

How Gabe Evans Fumbled The DHS Shutdown Hot Potato

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• by: Colorado Pols

As Sean Beedle reported for the Colorado Times Recorder on Monday, America’s Most Vulnerable Incumbent™ Rep. Gabe Evans’ blame game over the record-setting shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security was fully derailed by events that left Republicans holding the political bag, and Evans seething at his Republican colleagues in the Senate for “caving” to Democrats:

During an appearance Thursday on KNUS’ Ryan Schuiling Live, U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans (R-CO) placed the blame for delays at airport security checkpoints directly on Democrats in the Senate — as he’d been doing for weeks. “We have a statement from one of our two U.S. senators in Colorado where he says, ‘I voted against the DHS funding bill,’” he said. “When you go look at facts, it is the Democrats who refuse to vote to fund the Department of Homeland Security.”

But two days later, Evans was blaming fellow Republicans.

At a GOP meeting Saturday, Evans said he voted against a bipartisan bill to fund the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) portion of DHA, and he turned his anger toward Senate Republicans, saying they “caved” on the “supposed compromise bill.” He praised himself and House Republicans for holding the line against Democrats and Senate Republicans, saying, “The House was having none of that.” [Pols emphasis]

For weeks before the Senate passed legislation last Friday that would fund most of DHS while deferring the question of funding the already lavishly-funded Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, Evans had what he thought was the upper hand as security lines at airports across the nation lengthened and TSA agents begged the media for help–ramping up over the course of weeks his rhetoric demanding that Democrats give in without reforms to violent immigration enforcement tactics that flipped public support against the President on the issue:

As the shutdown dragged on, Evans began calling out Colorado’s Democratic Senators John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet by name:

But then, as Evans alluded to in the CTR story above and Punchbowl News also reported Monday, the rug was pulled from under House Republicans looking to blame Senate Democrats…by their Senate Republican counterparts:

The House and Senate are both out for the next two weeks. Their absence is pretty remarkable given the Department of Homeland Security is still shut down. We’re publishing AM editions only this week. But we’ll have alerts for premium subscribers if there’s any news.

Let’s be abundantly clear — this record-breaking, 44-day DHS funding impasse has turned into a political disaster for Republicans.

At one point, Republicans seemed to be breaking through with their message that Democrats instigated the DHS fight over undocumented immigrants. But now, House and Senate Republicans are publicly warring with each other over who’s at fault for last week’s debacle. The GOP-run Congress has left town until mid-April, while President Donald Trump was forced to issue an executive order to pay TSA employees.

On their way out of town last Friday, the House passed another DOA bill that would fully fund ICE along with the rest of DHS–a bill the Senate ignored since they had already passed their own bipartisan measure.  At this point, Republican attempts to turn Democratic resolve over reforming Trump’s violent mass deportation campaign against them have completely failed. Democrats have consistently come out ahead in public opinion polls over the DHS shutdown, echoing the flip in public support against the Trump administration’s immigration policies in general since the deadly violence perpetrated by federal immigration agents in Minnesota.

After weeks of blaming Democrats and ignoring the underlying issue that has undermined public support for his position, Evans has been forced to reverse himself and become the opponent of ending the DHS shutdown without funding for the continuing immigration crackdown the public has soured on. Especially with rumors that ICE agents could be deployed to polling places this fall and other locations outside their scope determined by Trump’s personal whim, Evans’ position isn’t just a political loser.

It’s political suicide. And it’s a corner Evans spent the last month painting himself into.