2 OCTOBER 2020

Gardner’s Unwavering Allegiance to Trump & Determination to Confirm a New Supreme Court Justice Leaves Immigrant Communities at Risk

Judge Amy Coney Barrett Brings Years-Long Record of Anti-Immigrant Rulings to the Supreme Court

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Senator Cory Gardner is proving, yet again, that his allegiance to President Donald Trump is far greater than his commitment to his Colorado constituents as he prepares to fall in line with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s orders to confirm Trump’s third nominee to the Supreme Court. By supporting the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett with less than 40 days until the presidential election, Senator Gardner will advance a nominee with a years-long record of anti-immigrant rulings, including supporting some of President Trump’s key immigration policies.

Over the last four years, the Supreme Court has acted as the final backstop against some of President Trump’s most cruel and inhumane immigration policies. Just this summer, the high court prevented Trump from terminating the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and leaving 700,000 Dreamers at risk of deportation, including nearly 15,000 Dreamers who call Colorado home. The court also blocked Trump’s plan to include a question about citizenship on the 2020 census, which would have led to catastrophic underfunding of immigrant communities and severe undercounts in Colorado and other states with high immigrant populations. By supporting a judge with only a few years of experience on a federal bench, Gardner would essentially greenlight the administration’s xenophobic anti-immigrant agenda.

“Senator Gardner is Colorado’s chief enabler of President Trump’s reckless agenda,” said Sergio Gonzales, Deputy Director of the Immigration Hub. “With so much at stake - from DACA to the Affordable Care Act - Gardner has chosen to fall in line with the Trump/McConnell assault on our democracy, institutions and the public at large. Overturning DACA, more family separations, illegally diverting funds to build a border wall, and more of Trump’s cruel agenda can be ushered in, unchecked and unapologetically. Gardner’s promise to approve Trump’s nominee will go down in history as an assault on the will of the voters who will, no less, hold the senator and president accountable.”

Gardner’s support of the Trump agenda goes beyond his willingness to confirm a Supreme Court justice weeks before the election. The Colorado senator has voted with President Trump nearly 90% of the time in Congress – not including the multiple instances where he has remained silent on critical administrative policies blocking legal immigration, such as the expanded Muslim ban and the new public charge rule. Not just once, but twice Senator Gardner voted to uphold President Trump’s emergency declaration to build his border wall and move to circumvent congressional authority despite bipartisan condemnation. Senator Gardner also refused to join multiple bills in Congress that would prohibit the Administration from separating children from their parents, such as the Families Belong Together Act. Polling by the Immigration Hub shows that President Trump’s attacks on immigrant communities will play a key role in the eventual defeat of complicit Republicans, including Gardner. Additionally, a majority of voters in battleground states, including Colorado, do not support Trump’s immigration agenda and find Trump’s anti-immigrant strategy as a bigger reason to vote against him than for him.

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The Immigration Hub is a national organization dedicated to advancing fair and just immigration policies through strategic leadership, innovative communications strategies, legislative advocacy and collaborative partnerships.