Donald Trump
Another Denver undocumented mother in sanctuary at area church; sanctuary network aims to expand
DENVER – Jeanette Vizguerra made national headlines Wednesday when she sought sanctuary at a Denver church after finding out she’d be deported. But another Denver woman in a similar situation has been in sanctuary at a different area church since last fall.
Ingrid Encalada LaTorre, 33, has been living at the Mountain View Quaker meeting house in Denver since the end of November.
She sought sanctuary at the church after learning she could be deported last fall. The mother of two, from Peru, used false papers to work at an area nursing home.
LaTorre requested a deportation stay Nov. 24 with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) but still hasn’t received one.
“I am doing this to not only stop my own deportation, but also to raise awareness that there are thousands of others like me – people whose only offense was to work and pay into the social safety net, and whose only desire is to live safely with our families,” LaTorre told Denver7 last year.
Like Vizguerra, LaTorre has children who were born in the U.S. and are American citizens.
And Mountain View is one of nine churches statewide currently participating in a sanctuary network, though officials hope to eventually increase that number to about 60.
“We’re mostly feeling to respond to the human situations of families being broken up, parents with citizen children, and are in general a recognition of the very positive role that immigration plays in our nation’s history,” said Eric Wright, an activist working to expand the sanctuary network.
The Washington Post reports that the nationwide sanctuary network has expanded to about 800 participating churches and community centers over the past year.
Since President Donald Trump issued an executive order aiming to deport some of the millions of undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. illegally last month, ICE agents have arrested hundreds of people nationwide — some of whom have committed minor offenses, like Vizguerra and LaTorre, but others without criminal records.
LaTorre says she is staying in sanctuary for her family’s sake.
“We cannot stand idly by and let our government threaten the integrity of families,” a spokesman for Mountain View, David Poundstone, told Denver7. “We feel called upon to engage in civil initiative to invoke the tradition of sanctuary to protect those under threat of harm.”
Vizguerra’s attorney, Hans Meyer, and staffers from Rep. Diana DeGette’s office visited with her at First Unitarian Thursday.
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Undocumented Colorado mother of 3 U.S. citizens on deportation fight: ‘It will not end today’
DENVER — The fight of one undocumented mother living in Colorado escalated Wednesday after she fled to a Denver church to avoid immigration officials who are now seeking to deport her.
“It will not end today,” Jeanette Vizguerra proudly said to the applause of her supporters. She spoke in her native tongue of Spanish to explain why she is fighting to remain in the U.S., despite efforts to deport her. Continue reading
Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner talks Flynn resignation, new administration, ‘paid’ protests in interview
DENVER – Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner has been among the most-scrutinized politicians in Washington in recent months.
Gardner is a Republican in a state won by Hillary Clinton, but which has strong Republican and independent factions as well. But he has drawn the ire of many Coloradans after voting in favor of President Donald Trump’s nominees and measures every chance he’s had so far, and caused a stir with a comment about protesters at his offices in Colorado being paid.
Gardner on Tuesday sat for an interview with Denver7 to explain his voting record with the new administration, his thoughts on the protests and the fallout from National Security Adviser Michael Flynn’s resignation Monday night.
Watch the full interview in the player embedded below.
GARDNER ON FLYNN’S RESIGNATION
Gardner had not previously commented publicly on swirling allegations that Flynn had discussed sanctions on Russia with its ambassador to Washington, Sergey Kislyak.
But on Tuesday, in the wake of Flynn’s Monday resignation, Gardner said it was right for Flynn to step aside.
“The right thing happened with General Flynn stepping down. That’s the right decision he made and right for the country,” Gardner said. “But I also think it’s important to recognize that the intelligence committee, which is already carrying out an investigation into Russian hacking and other activities with Russia, is going to be looking into the matter of General Flynn.”
He said that he would wait for the FBI to determine the route of any possible further investigations into Flynn. That came as several other high-ranking Republican Senate members called for an investigation into ties between Trump and Russia and called for Flynn to testify.
“Every administration has the ability, the right, to choose their personnel – particularly their national security adviser,” Gardner told Denver7. “I disagreed with the [national security adviser] from time to time under the last administration. But I think what we have to do is find out the facts here, learn from the FBI what exactly happened, and make our decisions going forward.”
GARDNER ON HIS CONFIRMATION VOTES
Gardner maintains that Democrats on the Hill are causing much of the political divide by objecting to and delaying some of the new administration’s confirmations.
“This is unprecedented levels of political obstruction in the Senate,” Gardner told Denver7. “So far, all that we’ve been allowed to do, thanks to unprecedented levels of obstruction, is try to do the basic job of filling out a cabinet for this president.”
And though several Senate committees delayed committee votes on some of the cabinet picks and Democrats used Senate rules to hold the floor for nearly 24 hours in an effort to vote down Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary, the GOP line that there is “unprecedented obstruction,” which has also been used by many other Senate Republicans, does not completely hold water.
After Republicans won back the House and Senate, they in 2013 boycotted a committee vote on prospective EPA administrator Gina McCarthy and famously failed to meet with President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland.
But all of President Trump’s nominees have so far been confirmed, and that is likely to continue since Republicans hold majorities in both chambers of Congress.
Gardner says he has a positive outlook on the administration’s future.
“Regardless of what party people are, regardless of whether they voted for President Trump or voted for Hillary Clinton, we would always do our best to make sure our days ahead of us are better than the ones we just went through,” he said.
GARDNER ON OPPOSITION
Thousands of people displeased with Gardner’s votes and alignment with President Trump have flooded his phone lines and email inboxes voicing their lack of satisfaction. They have also taken to his offices in Colorado to protest.
“I want to hear from you. I continue to encourage my constituents to reach out to me to share their opinions – whether through meetings, phone calls, email, or social media,” Gardner said in a statement to Denver7 Monday.
On Tuesday, he addressed the insinuation he made last month that some people protesting him and calling his office were paid protesters. He clarified that he believes there are organizations that are working to connect politically-active people across the country with various lawmakers in Washington, citing a conversation his wife had with one organization.
“We have a number of Coloradans – a large percentage, if not a huge percentage of the people calling our office who are Coloradans. [They are] people who are concerned about nominations, people who are concerned about the price of their health care,” Gardner said.
“But we do have people from out of state calling the office. In fact, just the other day, my wife was contacted by an organized survey effort. She answered the survey and was immediately connected to my very own office.”
“She was not paid to do that, but somebody was paid to make that connection happen not knowing that was my wife,” Gardner said.
He says he and his staff appreciate the input from his constituents, and points to his and other Republicans’ urging of Trump to impose a strict policy toward Russia and increase cybersecurity.
“I’ve always said we need more Colorado in Washington and less Washington in Colorado. When somebody reaches out to the office, I take every one of those concerns seriously,” Gardner said. “Somebody may want you to vote ‘yes;’ somebody may want you to vote ‘no;’ and obviously if you vote ‘yes’ when somebody wants you to vote ‘no,’ that means someone feels like their voice wasn’t heard. But the bottom line is every single one of their voices matter.”
Gardner will next be up for re-election in 2020.
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Despite circulating petitions, US Constitution does not allow for recall of members of Congress
DENVER – No, you cannot recall a U.S. Congressman.
Despite the handfuls of petitions circulating online for the recall of Colorado Republican Sen. Cory Gardner over the past several weeks, the Constitution does not allow for the recall of any senator or representative.
Some Coloradans have been angry with Gardner over his support of some of the cabinet picks in the new Donald Trump administration, as well as his insinuation that some protesting his offices in recent weeks were paid to do so. Sixteen people were cited for their actions while protesting outside of his office in late January.
A handful of petitions on change.org and an editorial in the Boulder Daily Camera all called for constituents to recall the senator, and his office voicemails and email inboxes were flooded by tens of thousands of calls and letters.
But the U.S. Constitution allows for the removal of a senator or representative only by a two-thirds vote from either house, and usually only in the case of treason or a criminal conviction relating to that Congressperson’s official duties.
There was a provision considered while the Founding Fathers were writing the constitution in 1787 that would have allowed for the recall of members of Congress, but it was not included in the final version.
Some may have been confused, thinking that a Colorado law that allows for a petition to be agreed upon by a certain number of voters to recall a state senator or representative also applied to those elected to U.S. Congress.
But that petition process, which requires verified signatures from 25 percent of voters in the previous election, applies only to state officials.
Gardner will next be up for re-election in 2020; Colorado’s other senator, Democrat Michael Bennet, will be up for re-election in 2022, but has said he will likely retire. You can still reach them the old-fashioned way to voice your pleasure or lack thereof with their actions by writing them or calling their offices. The same goes for Colorado’s representatives in the House.
In the meantime, Gardner issued a statement to Denver7 Monday evening saying he welcomes continued efforts by constituents to reach him and his office:
“Like most Congressional offices, my office continues to receive a very high volume of phone calls and emails. Just this afternoon, the Senate Sergeant at Arms notified all senate offices that the Senate’s voicemail system was down for a significant period of time. This is unacceptable, and I know how frustrating it is. That is why I am working to find new and innovative ways for Coloradans to contact me directly. I want to hear from you. I continue to encourage my constituents to reach out to me to share their opinions – whether through meetings, phone calls, email, or social media.”
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Colorado Congressmen call for Flynn’s resignation if he misled administration over Russia call
UPDATE (9:15 p.m.): Gen. Michael Flynn resigned as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser Monday night, saying he “inadvertently briefed the Vice President Elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian Ambassador.”
The full text of his resignation letter is embedded below, via TIME’s Zeke Miller: Continue reading
Former top White House official under Reagan has harsh words for Trump, administration
DENVER – Linda Chavez, who was the highest-ranking woman in the Reagan White House as Director of Public Liaison, has harsh words for the Trump administration and the executive order on immigration still in limbo in federal court.
In a Friday interview with Denver7 for Politics Unplugged, Chavez slammed the haste in which the administration put together the order that has left visa holders from certain countries in limbo despite them being legally in the country.
“President Trump is shooting from the hip,” Chavez said in an interview with Anne Trujillo for Politics Unplugged. “When he drafted the order, it didn’t go through the normal process.”
Chavez lives in Boulder and is a Fellow in Immigration Policy and the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University.
“What he’s done is basically changed the rules in the middle of the game. That’s not the American way,” Chavez said Friday. “We don’t pass a law with certain conditions and then decide, ‘Oh, we’re going to rewrite that, and if you happen to be out of the country, even if you have a valid visa and are a permanent resident, we’re not going to let you back in.”
She also authored a story published in Townhall Friday in which she said she had never “felt as alienated from politics” as she does now, going into detail on her issues with the manner in which the Trump administration has handled its first few weeks in the white house.
“We live in a constitutional system,” she said. “You’re not free to throw out the rules and you’re certainly not free to ignore due process.”
Chavez talked at length Friday about the immigration order and several other aspects of the new administration and its differences from when she worked in the White House. The full interview between Chavez and Trujillo will air at 4 p.m. on Denver7’s Politics Unplugged.
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Colorado marijuana leader says dismantling of industry would cause a recession
DENVER – Despite new figures that show Colorado’s marijuana sales topped $1 billion for the first time ever last year, there is some concern in the state over what could happen to the burgeoning business under new U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Sessions is on record in the past saying that “Good people don’t smoke marijuana” and that “marijuana is not the kind of thing that ought to be legalized” and that it is “a very real danger.” Continue reading
Apparent hate crime in Peyton draws attention from national Muslim council, feds
PEYTON, Colo. – A possible hate crime in a small town northeast of Colorado Springs has drawn the attention of the FBI and the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights organization.
The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to Denver7 Tuesday that the homeowners in Peyton woke up Sunday to find the outside of their home vandalized with eggs, dog feces, bath tissue and papers scrawled with messages regarding the homeowners’ racial background.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on Tuesday condemned the incident.
“Our nation’s leaders – at the highest levels – need to address the growing bigotry we are witnessing around the country in the post-election period,” CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper said in a statement.
The FBI’s Denver branch confirmed it was investigating but gave no further details.
“The FBI does not comment on active, ongoing investigations of the FBI’s or other investigative agencies,” Denver branch spokeswoman Amy Sanders told Denver7.
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Praise and protests after Colorado’s senators split vote on successful DeVos confirmation
WASHINGTON – Colorado’s two senators split their votes, just as the rest of their Senate colleagues did, in Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ confirmation hearing.
Vice President Mike Pence cast the deciding vote to confirm the controversial DeVos after the Senate’s vote ended in a 50-50 split. Continue reading
Colorado Rep. Lamborn’s bill would strip federal funding from NPR, Corp. for Public Broadcasting
WASHINGTON – Colorado Congressman Doug Lamborn introduced two resolutions this week that would strip hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding from National Public Radio and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that he says could be better spent on the U.S. military.
The two resolutions brought forth in the House of Representatives, HR 726 and HR 727, are not the first pieces of legislation aimed at defunding public media outlets. Lamborn sponsored a bill in the 112th Congress, which ran from 2010-11, that also stripped funding. It passed the House, but failed in the Senate. Continue reading