tags: , , , , , Blog, Press Releases

Colorado Republicans Get Failing Grades on Immigration from Latino and Asian Groups

Share This:

Cory Gardner Doubles Down on Anti-Immigrant Stance By Criticizing Senate Immigration Bill Supported by 70% of Coloradans 

With immigration reform legislation laid to rest at the feet of House Republicans, national Latino and Asian groups released a score card Monday to grade members of the House of Representatives on their immigration voting record in the 113th Congress.

With the release of the first ever 2014 National Immigration Score Card, national organizations representing Latino, Asian Pacific Islander and immigrant communities said in their statement, “The 2014 National Immigration Score Card leaves no doubt who supported immigration reform and who worked against us. The American people support immigration reform and they will join us in sending a clear and unmistakable signal to Washington: Congress’ inaction fuels our action. The time is now for our communities to get engaged.”

Members of the Colorado delegation received the following scores based on their immigration votes and bill sponsorship:

DeGette, Diana          91%

Polis, Jared                 100%

Tipton, Scott              0%

Gardner, Cory            0%

Lamborn, Doug          0%

Coffman, Mike           9%

Perlmutter, Ed           91%

Over the weekend, Rep. Cory Gardner (R, CD-4) reinforced his anti-immigrant stance by criticizing the broadly popular and bipartisan Senate immigration bill. He claimed his approach instead would be to “move forward with an immigration policy that prioritizes border security, and that includes a viable guest-worker program.” Interesting. Maybe he didn’t know that the Senate bill already includes a worker program that has been endorsed by both the US Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO? Or that it increases funding for border security by $50 billion, would create 20,000 new border agents and 700 miles of additional border fencing?

The immigrant community is tired of politicians like Rep. Gardner who say they’re pushing for “immigration reform,” but they’re voting records tell a very different story.

“After the 2012 election, Congress pledged to act on immigration reform. Two years later, Congress has refused to bring a broad bill to the floor and called for anti-immigration votes by doing things like ending the DACA program and deporting DREAMers. The Score Cards clearly show who supported immigration reform and who worked against it or failed to get a vote on the House floor. Congress may try to ignore the community, but the community will not ignore them,” said Carla Castedo Mi Familia Vota Colorado State Director.

In response to the failing grades of two of Colorado’s Republican representatives, Polly Baca, the first Hispanic woman elected to the Colorado State Senate, said, “Congressmen Mike Coffman and Cory Gardner do not represent family values.  They have actively separated children from their parents and kept families in the shadows by refusing to take action to pass immigration reform.  Coffman and Gardner only represent their own personal interests and the interests of the anti-immigrant Tea Party.”

“The best of the Colorado Republicans got a 9 percent rating on the immigration score card. You would think we lived in Alabama,” said Patty Kupfer, Managing Director of America’s Voice based in Colorado. “I’m tired of saying these Republicans are ‘out of touch’ with voters in Colorado. They know they’re on the wrong side of this issue, but they think they’ve got one more election before they really have to worry about a backlash from voters who care about immigration. We’ll see about that.”