‘DISGUSTING’: Legal Immigrant Descended From Holocaust Survivor Slams Democrat Comparing Trump’s Deportations to Hitler

A Republican Colorado state representative who came to the U.S. legally and is descended from a Holocaust survivor slammed his Democrat colleague for comparing President Donald Trump’s recent deportations of illegal aliens to the Nazis rounding up Jews.

State Rep. Lorena Garcia, a sponsor of the immigration bill SB 25-276, spoke in a hearing on the bill Monday, condemning the Trump administration for “disappearing people” and comparing his deportations to the Holocaust.

“We have to stand up and fight against the Trump administration disappearing people,” she said. “We have been down this road before, committee. We have seen what happens when an authoritarian government decides to ignore the Constitution, and that resulted in the Holocaust. And to even pretend that there is anything different, then I encourage you to pick up a history book.” 

“It’s disgustingly ignorant to what actually transpired in the 1930s,” Rep. Ron Weinberg, a Republican, told The Daily Signal in a phone interview Tuesday. “Having a grandmother who barely survived Auschwitz, her brother being shoved into an oven and her parents being shot dead in the street in Germany by a tyrannical regime—I can tell you this coming out of her [Garcia’s] mouth is just ignorance.”

Historians estimate that Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime rounded up and slaughtered 6 million Jews and others, placing them in concentration camps and targeting them for racial and religious reasons.

The White House, by contrast, claims to have deported 139,000 illegal aliens, prioritizing gang members and other violent criminals. At least 9 million illegal aliens entered the country under President Joe Biden.

Weinberg, a legal immigrant who was born in South Africa before moving to Israel and eventually to the U.S., expressed frustration at Colorado Democrats passing laws to help immigrants who did not come to the U.S. legally. (Democrats have a majority in the Colorado House of Representatives and the Colorado Senate.)

“We came here, and it took my parents 20 years to get their citizenship, and they came legally,” he said. “I mean, we’re passing multiple bills every year that cater to illegal immigrants.”

“It hurts,” Weinberg added, stating that his brother came to the U.S. legally and is still waiting for his citizenship. “How come everybody else gets treated like royalty and like gold, while my own family is left out in the dust when they are honest, hardworking taxpayers following the law?”

Yet Another ‘Sanctuary State’ Bill

Weinberg noted that Denver Mayor Mike Johnston testified in Congress earlier this year that Colorado’s capital city is not a sanctuary city, but Weinberg insisted that Colorado is a sanctuary state and warned that SB 25-276 would only further its sanctuary status.

“We do not shield people from federal law enforcement, we do not provide sanctuary,” Johnston testified in March.

Yet in 2019, lawmakers passed and Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, signed HB 19-1124, which prevents Colorado law enforcement from arresting or detaining an individual based on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement notice of illegal status. The bill also prohibits probation officers from providing a person’s immigration status to federal authorities.

In 2020, Polis signed SB 20-083, which prohibits civil courthouse arrests, a practice ICE uses to enforce immigration law. In 2021, he signed SB 21-131, which restricts state employees from disclosing immigration information to ICE unless a court orders it, and SB 21-1194, which earmarked $100,000 to pay for legal representation for immigrants.

Polis also signed SB 21-199, which repeals requirements that residents prove their lawful presence in the U.S. to receive public benefits.

Last year, the governor signed HB 24-1280, which created a “welcome, reception, & integration grant program.” The law earmarked $2.5 million in grants “to community-based organizations that provide culturally and linguistically appropriate navigation of services and programs to migrants who are within one year of arrival in the United States.”

SB 25-276 would build on this theme. Current state law requires an illegal alien to submit an affidavit stating that he or she has applied or will apply for lawful presence in order to receive public benefits such as in-state college tuition and a driver’s license. The bill would remove that requirement.

The bill would also bar state jails from holding illegal aliens so ICE can enforce immigration law.

The bill’s supporters say the legislation would protect the due process of immigrants.

“We’ve seen the Trump administration wield attacks against immigrants, regardless of their immigration status, with increasing frequency and with less and less regard for due process,” Colorado state Sen. Julie Gonzales, a Democrat and lead sponsor of the bill, told reporters ahead of a hearing earlier this month. “This bill creates clarity amidst the chaos, confusion, and uncertainty that our communities are facing.”

Colorado “might be the most sanctuary of all the sanctuary states,” Kristen Christensen, Heritage Action for America’s Colorado state director, told The Daily Signal.

According to an analysis from the Colorado House Republican staff, the state’s taxpayers will pay $544.6 million for illegal aliens during the current fiscal year, which ends on July 30. This sum includes $96.8 million on health care, $352.4 million on K-12 education, $90.2 million on higher education, $1.7 million on driver’s licenses, $2.8 million for an integration office, and $700,000 for legal services.

“After Colorado addressed a $1.2 billion budget shortfall, with potentially more cuts coming next budget cycle, SB 25-276 does not prioritize the needs of our hardworking lawful Coloradans,” Minority Leader Rose Pugliese, a Republican, told The Daily Signal Tuesday.

“Colorado taxpayers are already footing, on average, an over half-a-billion-dollar bill each year to support unlawful immigrants, while critical programs remain underfunded,” she added. “It is time we put Colorado families first, not last.”

The Context of Garcia’s Remarks

Garcia did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment to clarify her Holocaust remarks or respond to criticism about them.

She made her Holocaust statement one day after the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency announced that authorities had arrested more than 100 illegal aliens in a multi-agency sting at an “underground nightclub” in Colorado Springs.

The Holocaust comparison also came after the American Civil Liberties Union announced in a press release that the Trump administration had deported three children along with their illegal immigrant mothers, leading to an outcry from Democrats. Garcia shared a CNN report on the children getting deported with their moms on the social network BlueSky.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that the mothers decided to take the children with them when they faced deportation.

Another Legal Immigrant Responds

State Rep. Carlos Barron, another Republican House member who also immigrated to the U.S. legally, expressed similar outrage as Weinberg.

“My family and I immigrated to the United States legally, going through the proper channels to earn our place here and serve this country,” Barron told The Daily Signal in a statement Tuesday. “That’s the process we should be supporting—not undermining.”

“After sitting through several hours of testimony in the Judiciary Committee last night, I can confidently say that SB 25-276 is absolutely outrageous,” he added. “Instead of encouraging people to remain in the country illegally, we should be promoting a streamlined, legal immigration process that encourages individuals to become contributing members of our nation.”

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