‘Obey the law’: Conservative firebrand torches blue state immigration policies amid major lawsuit
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., criticized Colorado leaders, as the state and the city of Denver are currently being sued by the Department of Justice over their immigration policies, and shared how Congress can step in.
“[Denver] Mayor Mike Johnston was unwilling to change policies that don’t even allow his city employees to coordinate with ICE agents. And that also is a coupling with Colorado state laws as well. And unfortunately, Gov. Jared Polis has not budged on those either. In fact, the Democrats who run our state legislature have gone even further. They want to expedite and make driver’s licenses immediately available for those who are in our state illegally,” Boebert told Fox News Digital in an interview on Tuesday.
The lawsuit, filed Friday in Colorado District Court, accuses the state and its most populous city of implementing “sanctuary laws” in violation of the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution. Colorado has become a national focal point, as it was revealed to be a hotbed for the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
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“The United States has well-established, preeminent, and preemptive authority to regulate immigration matters,” the lawsuit reads.
ICE enforces federal immigration laws across the country but regularly needs additional support from state and local officials, particularly for large-scale deportations. The agency also asks police departments and sheriff’s offices to flag migrants it wants to deport and hold them until federal agents can take custody.
The Department of Justice has filed similar lawsuits challenging “sanctuary policies” in Rochester, New York, and Chicago.
“At a congressional level, other than codifying what President Trump is doing with his Executive Orders, we do have the power of the purse here in the House,” the Republican said.
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“And so we need to begin to withhold funding from these sanctuary cities and really empower those who are obeying federal laws to do that more, incentivizing them with those federal dollars and with programs that benefit their areas,” she continued.
President Donald Trump recently put forth an executive order threatening to cut federal funding to “sanctuary jurisdictions” if those governments do not make serious changes.
However, Boebert had a straightforward message for Colorado leaders as the federal government continues its immigration crackdown. As the Trump administration marked its first 100 days last month, ICE noted the arrest and deportation of more than 65,000 illegal immigrants, thousands of whom had criminal charges or were already found guilty of a crime.
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“Obey federal law. If you want these federal dollars to come back and bless Colorado, Colorado is a beautiful state, and they know that. And we want to encourage people to come to Colorado to be there, to be with us, and to have a safe community.”
“Colorado is not a sanctuary state. The State of Colorado works with local, state and federal law enforcement regularly and we value our partnerships with federal law enforcement agencies to make Colorado safer,” a spokesperson for Polis’ office said.
Fox News Digital reached out to Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s office for comment.
Fox News’ Landon Mion contributed to this report.