Mike Coffman suspends legislative effort to protect young immigrants

Aurora Republican was trying to force vote on bill to help DACA recipients; latest move draws fire from Democrats


John Leyba, The Denver Post
U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman answers questions during his town hall at Prairie View High School in on Aug. 1, 2017 Henderson.

By MARK K. MATTHEWS | mmatthews@denverpost.com | The Denver Post
PUBLISHED: September 8, 2017 at 1:11 pm | UPDATED: September 8, 2017 at 5:31 pm

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman no longer will press Congress to vote on a bill to help young immigrants who are at risk for deportation — an about-face that critics said confirms their suspicions that the Aurora Republican launched the short-lived effort simply for political gain.

Three days ago, Coffman filed what’s called a “discharge petition” to try to force the House to vote on a measure that would suspend the deportation of immigrants registered with the 2012 program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, which President Donald Trump is canceling.
It was an unusual move, as discharge petitions typically aren’t used by the members of the party in power, but the fifth-term Republican said it was necessary to compel his GOP colleagues to take steps to protect DACA recipients.

“DACA participants grew up here, went to school here, and should be allowed to stay here. The time has come to take action,” he announced on Twitter.

He also told The Denver Post that he had alerted House leaders about the discharge petition but insisted he didn’t need their approval.

“I wasn’t looking for their support,” Coffman said.

Now, however, Coffman said he has stopped trying to gather the 218 signatures needed to complete a discharge petition and force a floor vote.

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“I had a conversation with House Speaker (Paul) Ryan (on) Wednesday morning and he said that he’s committed to get DACA passed, albeit he wants to do it with some type of border security; I’m fine with that,” Coffman said Friday. “What I told him is I’d hold it back, but if I saw that he wasn’t making progress in terms of putting something forward, that I would push the discharge petition.”

Democrats jumped on the maneuver as proof that Coffman isn’t serious about helping the 17,000 DACA recipients in Colorado and is interested only in aiding his own re-election prospects.

Coffman, once an immigration hard-liner, dramatically changed his positions after the state legislature turned his House seat into a swing district that’s about 20 percent Latino. Immigration continues to be a challenging issue for him.

“Now that Rep. Coffman scored the political points, he’s fallen back in line with Republican leadership hell-bent on blocking immigration reform,” Javier Gamboa, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in a statement. “This heartless gimmick from Rep. Coffman proves he’s only concerned with his own political future, not fighting for the 800,000 DACA recipients (nationwide) worried facing deportation under President Trump and House Republicans.”

Before he suspended the discharge effort, Coffman had gathered only a handful of supporters.

One of those was U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder, who added his name to Coffman’s petition despite the initial criticism directed at Coffman by the DCCC and other Democrats.

Polis said Friday that Coffman hadn’t told him personally about the decision to ice the discharge petition and that he was disappointed with the move.

“I was surprised because it’s only been a couple days and, I’m sure he has his reasons, but I hope he wasn’t pressured by Republican leadership into withdrawing it,” Polis said.

Coffman’s discharge petition isn’t the only one under discussion in Washington this week.

House Democrats said Thursday they would try a similar tactic with a bill known as the DREAM Act, which provides a pathway to citizenship for young immigrants who moved illegally to the U.S. when they still were children; in general the same people covered by DACA.

Coffman is a co-sponsor of that bill.

Asked Friday whether he would support that effort, Coffman said: “No, not at this time.”

Pressed on the issue a few minutes later, he reconsidered.
“I’m going to take a look at it,” Coffman said. “I’ll let you know when I make a decision.”

A couple hours after that, he released a statement that indicated support.

“I will sign a discharge petition on any bill that I have previously cosponsored to force a vote to protect the young people enrolled in the DACA program,” Coffman said in the statement. “However, my hope is that Republican leadership will bring a bill to the floor for a vote before the six-month deadline.”

http://www.denverpost.com/2017/09/08...ion-suspended/