A group of Latino Democratic state legislators Thursday denounced Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez’s immigration stance, comparing the former congressman to Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
“To think that going against (Gov. John) Hickenlooper would benefit the immigrant community is backward,” said state Sen. Jessie Ulibarri, D-Westminster.
The statements came at a news conference on the steps of the Capitol one day after leaders of a Latino advocacy group said they would drop support for Hickenlooper if he did not bring fixes to the state’s embattled new driver’s license program for those in the country illegally.
“We’ve done great work to move Colorado forward, and that work is being threatened by Congressman Bob Beauprez,” said Ulibarri, who sponsored the licensing legislation.
The lawmakers spoke about their outrage in regard to Beauprez’s comments in a radio interview last week. In that KNUS-AM (710) interview, Beauprez said if Perry or other governors asked for support, he would send the Colorado National Guard to the southern border to join hundreds of Texas National Guard troops sent there by Perry last month.
Tens of thousands of children were arrested trying to cross the southern border between October and July, according to the Department of Homeland Security, setting off a humanitarian crisis that has been highly debated in political circles nationwide.
“(Democrats) are trying to paint this picture that somehow it would be a military mission,” Allen Fuller, a spokesman for the Beauprez campaign said Thursday of the National Guard comments. “That is pure fiction.”
Fuller reiterated that the former congressman meant that the Guard would be deployed to provide humanitarian aid, which Democrats on Thursday called back-tracking.
Beauprez repeatedly has said that enforcing and upholding the “rule of law” is his priority, and Fuller said Wednesday that the former congressman thinks the immigration law is “broken.”
Fuller said the solution is to “elect a governor who will push back on Washington and demand we adopt a 21st-century immigration system.”
The Democrats also targeted the immigration stances of Republicans U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, running for office in the 6th Congressional District, and U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner, who is challenging U.S. Sen. Mark Udall, a Democrat, for his seat.
Rick Palacio, chairman of the state Democratic Party, said there is a “stark contrast” between Beauprez’s stance on immigration and Hickenlooper’s.
“Congressman Beauprez has put himself on the wrong side of the immigration issue,” Palacio said.
Latino voters could play a pivotal role in this year’s gubernatorial election.
A July 14 Quinnipiac University Poll found that 13 percent of all registered voters in the state were Latino. The same poll found that Hickenlooper held 58 percent of the Latino vote while Beauprez had 31 percent.
Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or twitter.com/jesseapaul
