During an appearance Thursday on KNUS’ Ryan Schuiling Live, U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans (R-CO) placed the blame for delays at airport security checkpoints directly on Democrats in the Senate — as he’d been doing for weeks. “We have a statement from one of our two U.S. senators in Colorado where he says, ‘I voted against the DHS funding bill,’” he said. “When you go look at facts, it is the Democrats who refuse to vote to fund the Department of Homeland Security.”
But two days later, Evans was blaming fellow Republicans.
At a GOP meeting Saturday, Evans said he voted against a bipartisan bill to fund the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) portion of DHA, and he turned his anger toward Senate Republicans, saying they “caved” on the “supposed compromise bill.” He praised himself and House Republicans for holding the line against Democrats and Senate Republicans, saying, “The House was having none of that.”
Colorado Democrats have been consistent in blaming Republicans for the DHS impasse, which came after Senate Democrats demanded reforms for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after the shooting deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis earlier this year. The shutdown led to TSA employees going without pay since Feb. 14, which has led to workers calling out, causing long wait times at airports across the country.
“Right now, TSA officers are being forced to work without a paycheck because Republicans would rather give Donald Trump a blank check to let ICE terrorize immigrants and kill American citizens in our streets instead of agreeing to necessary guardrails that a wide swath of people support,” said U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-CO). “As a result, we’re seeing hours-long security lines at airports across the country. That means delays and missed flights for travelers and even more strain on the TSA workers responsible for keeping our airports safe. If Republicans won’t work with us to rein in ICE’s lawless operations, Congress must at the very least pass legislation to ensure these essential workers are paid.”
Evans, a former police officer, claimed that Democrat animus against law enforcement is behind the shutdown during his KNUS appearance. “In about 2020, the Democrats got this idea in their head that they needed to defund the police and open our borders,” he said. “And they lost an election on that message in 2024, but the Democrat Party has not moved on from their core belief that they need to defund the police and open our borders. And they can’t do that now in Washington, D.C. So they’re doing the next best thing that they can do, which is absolutely refusing to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which has some of our biggest federal law enforcement agencies inside it.”
On Feb. 12, Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) explained his vote in a news release. “The American people have seen with their own eyes that ICE is out of control,” he said. “The agency needs a top-to-bottom overhaul. We proposed commonsense reforms — like body cameras, judicial warrants, and strict restraints on the use of force — things that are standard for local law enforcement agencies. Yet President Trump and the Republicans have chosen to shut down the government rather than work with us. We’ll use every tool at our disposal until ICE is overhauled to keep our communities safe.”
Evans said the recent firing of former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is a sign of good faith. “The president literally removed former Secretary of Homeland Security and gave a new one who, in his confirmation hearing, said he’s going to make many of the changes that the Democrats want,” said Evans. “We literally have a new Department of Homeland Security secretary because the president understands that there were some things that needed some course corrections on. Many of these things are the things that Democrats have wanted, but they continue to move the goalposts and continue to come up with new demands or engineer new reasons why they can’t vote to turn on the Department of Homeland Security. It’s pure gaslighting.”
Hickenlooper said in a news release that Noem’s firing is not enough. “Under Secretary Noem, ICE separated families, arrested and killed U.S. citizens, and ignored the Constitution,” he said. “Good riddance. But make no mistake: ICE and Trump’s inhumane immigration agenda needs a complete overhaul.”
On March 27, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) addressed the Senate’s bipartisan funding bill, later killed by the house, that would have paid TSA and other agencies. “This deal does not go far enough, but it does ensure our federal workers get their paychecks and ensure our ports of entry are open — all without providing any additional funding for ICE or Customs and Border Patrol,” said U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) in a news release. “Since President Trump took office, he has implemented cruel immigration enforcement policies. I will continue to fight for real reforms and hold DHS and ICE accountable. I will not back down as we work to prevent federal agents from wearing masks and require body cameras, stop children from being stripped from their families, ensure federal immigration agents are subject to the same common-sense practices as local law enforcement, and make a complete overhaul of leadership and operations at DHS.”
House Republicans voted 213-203 to reject the deal right before the federal legislature left for a two-week recess. “Let’s be clear: House Republicans are holding our federal employees hostage by refusing to move forward with this bipartisan legislation,” said Pettersen in a news release. “This dysfunction means more mayhem at our airports and more suffering for the American people. There is no excuse for this constant chaos. This is not how our government is supposed to work, and it only undermines trust both here at home and abroad. Our country is completely and utterly exhausted by their incompetence.”
