Washington, D.C. – Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet today released the following statement on President Trump’s executive orders on immigration:
“Today’s executive orders on immigration will further divide our nation and do nothing to make our communities safer. Denying asylum seekers due process undermines American values,” Bennet said. “Despite the President’s campaign rhetoric, it seems more and more likely that U.S. taxpayers will foot the bill to construct the wall. Finally, the ambiguous attempt to strip funding from so-called ‘sanctuary cities’ could deprive critical resources to local law enforcement throughout our state and make it harder to fight crime.
“If the President and Congressional Republicans really want to fix our broken immigration system, they must offer solutions that honor our respect for the rule of law and our heritage as a nation of immigrants. We did that in 2013 with a bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill, which would have secured our borders, strengthened our economy, and protected American workers while providing a tough but fair pathway to citizenship to immigrants who are contributing to their communities. Unfortunately, today’s announcement takes us in the opposite direction.”
In 2013, Bennet was a member of the “Gang of Eight,” co-authoring the Senate’s comprehensive immigration bill along with four Republican senators and three Democrats.