January 26, 2017 01:15 PM UTC

Wacky Westminster Councilman's Anti-Immigrant Rant Gets Exposed

• 4 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

We talked earlier this month about the strange case of Westminster City Councillor Bruce Baker, who launched into a bizarre pre-recorded diatribe during a recent city council meeting about illegal immigration, comparing the crime of rape to being in the country without documentation:

Instead of talking about the real harm to victims of people unlawfully in the United States, my colleagues chose to talk about being a ‘welcoming community.’ How odd. I do not think for a second that my colleagues would be welcoming to perpetrators of sexual assault.

As Denver7’s Jaclyn Allen reports, Baker’s defense of these remarks isn’t going super well.

“We’re here to make people’s lives better and not tear families apart,” said Shannon Bird, a City Council member who said Baker’s comment don’t represent Westminster. “To equate the violent crime of rape to one’s documented or undocumented immigration status was frankly horrifying to me. It’s not right, and it is not supported by the rest of our council.”

Critics are concerned the comments could encourage vigilante justice, and they came out in force at Tuesday night’s meeting, giving nearly three hours of public comment.

“I was blown away honestly,” said Tangi Lancaster, who spoke in the meeting about being a rape survivor. “When he used his words and his comparison of rapists to people who are here unlawfully in the United States, I was revolted.”

But Baker is not apologizing, saying he only regrets that people missed his point, which was that he wants all laws enforced and anyone in the country illegally kicked out.

As a cultural ambassador for Republicans, it’s true that Baker has probably got nothing on what Donald Trump and friends are doing to the GOP brand in Washington. With that said, Baker’s plainly ridiculous comparison of undocumented presence in the United States, which is technically not even a petty offense but a civil court proceeding, to the crime of rape doesn’t make either himself or his fellow Republicans look good.

Now that Baker’s rant has made the news, it would be a smart idea for Colorado Republicans to denounce him–but we kind of doubt that’s going to happen, however toxic this may all be for the party’s long-term relations with Latino voters.

Because like we say, Bruce Baker is just parroting what he sees up the food chain.