Just like the rest of their platform, Republican immigration policies are nothing more than a red herring whose success is predicated on the gullibility of racist rubes—the R&Rs as I like to call them. Sadly, when you stop and take a closer look, you quickly realize this isn’t too terribly difficult a task.

One of the key features found in a true R&R is an utter lack of self-awareness. A good example of this comes from former congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming. Whenever applicable, she has denounced Trump’s actions regarding the white supremacist wing of her party to the press. However, according to FiveThirtyEight, she voted with Trump 92.3% of the time when it came to political matters. Yet, no matter what the facts are, she has never been able to publicly acknowledge that her (silent) support of Trump over the years has allowed the agendas she so vocally opposes to flourish.

And unfortunately for us in the Centennial State, a number of Colorado lawmen have decided to attach themselves to their own stupid-train of racist unawareness; a train whose engine runs on the unlawful treatment of illegal immigrants.

Though the Teller County Sherriff’s Department had been in court over the last few years due to their lawbreaking form of racially motivated “justice,” it wasn’t until July this year that an appeals court officially ruled their treatment of detained immigrants was a violation of state law.

The lawsuit brought about by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of five taxpayers found that Sherriff Jason Mikesell would refuse to release illegal immigrants after they’d posted bail; holding them until an ICE agent could pick them up and get them the fuck out of ‘Murica.

Another example also came in July when three new Denver police officers were fired after an investigation turned up a series of racially motivated “joke” texts targeting the most vulnerable demographic of immigrants. These jokes centered around the officers forming a little group and “going to newcomer shelters for target practice.”

With none of the law enforcement agents involved in either of these examples giving an explanation for their ethnically selective actions, I have a theory—a theory that seems to be gaining steam with the country at large.

The roots of racism are many; sometimes it manifests through the lessons someone learns from their family and the environment they were raised in. In other instances, racism can be birthed from external factors … like the economy.

With “THEY TOOK OUR JOBS” becoming such a commonplace rallying cry, along with the Denver city council moving a ballot measure forward this year that would allow noncitizens to serve as police officers, I believe the economic struggles of the middle class are at the core of these actions.

To further solidify this point, a 2024 Gallup Poll found that “immigrants having a negative impact on the economy” was the reason given that caused the largest swing for anti-immigrant sentiment in America over the last five years, with a total percentage flip of 11% toward the negative.

Earlier, I used the term “Summer of Hate” to describe the racism evident in our law enforcement. With that said, there’s something else that happened this July that is also going to cause a lot of hate to emerge: the truth.

Those who blame the immigrants who enter our state as being the cause for the current economic shit-hammering experienced by the middle class believe a lie. In reality, data released by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) paints quite a different picture.

The CBO report found that if current immigration trends continue—and we see an increase of 8.7 million immigrants (documented or not) enter the US between 2021 and 2026—they would both boost the economy and trim the budget deficit to the tune of $897 billion over a decade.

As a realist who has been covering news and politics for years, I’ve learned that in the American lexicon, you ALWAYS follow the money because that’s usually where the truth/endgame lives. To me, it seems like $897 billion is a pretty big truth.

Regrettably, the flip side to being a realist is that I know I can use every statistical data point I have to justify my assertions and it won’t make much difference to the R&Rs because NUMBERS ARE HARD AND BORING!

Plus, we all know what’s going to happen anyway.

Someone who is racist and lacks self-awareness might stumble upon some piece of information that starts to crack the shield of ignorance they’ve placed around themselves. It’s even possible that this information is so intense that it causes a little night light above their head to illuminate. But as soon as they hit a drive-thru and are helped by someone with an accent, if that Whopper is missing the extra cheese they ordered, then every preconceived racially based notion will return and be solidified as being irrefutably true.