By Lindy Browning | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice
Since the moment Jeff Hurd was declared the winner of Colorado’s 3rd District election to the U.S. House, he has been working on putting a finer point on the details of the campaign promises to the people in Southern and Western Colorado who elected him.
He is actively thinking about legislation he can write and support, and bad legislation and bureaucratic systems that he can help eliminate that get in the way of prosperity and success for the people in the district, he says.
During his campaign, Hurd promised he would work with other members of the Republican Caucus to secure the border.
To that end, he has been reviewing legislative measures he could write and support that would promote border security. In addition to closing the border, he is considering legislative fixes for a broken asylum system that has been completely overrun during the last four years. With an estimated more than 12 million people having crossed the southern border illegally in that time, Hurd approaches the challenge with a sense of urgency and tenacity, and with the same fervor he campaigned on in his district.
“I am looking forward to working with President [Donald J.] Trump to secure the border,” said Hurd with enthusiasm.
When asked for more specifics about how that might look and specific actions he can take as a congressman, it was clear that this was something he had given a great deal of thought toward, and for which he had ready answers.
“I expect that there will initially be some executive orders, but there are legislative fixes that need to be made for permanency (beyond this administration). I expect to fully support completing the border wall, and working on reforming immigration asylum laws,” he said.
Hurd expanded, saying the current system isn’t working for anyone. He would like to see expedited adjudication on people who request asylum: “People should not be paroled into the country without their case being adjudicated.”
According to the Government Accountability Office statistics, more than two million people seeking asylum are backlogged in the courts.
Hurd speaks passionately about legal immigration. It is a subject matter that he has close personal knowledge of, considering his wife, Barbora, legally immigrated to America after growing up behind the Iron Curtain. He speaks often about his support for merit-based legal immigration — just as often as he does against illegal immigration.
“Cooperation with state and local entities are important and we hope they will be helpful (in upholding federal law),“ Hurd says when considering the impact of sanctuary cities with removal of illegal aliens, particularly those with a criminal history
If there are jurisdictions that don’t want to cooperate, he is willing to look at federal funding to these places as a way to encourage them to see things differently.
At the same time, Hurd is also looking for legislation that makes H2A visa’s make sense. H2A visas are the visas that allow employers to legally hire employees from another country.
“I would like to see these visas tied to an employer, and something that works differently than the green card system we currently have in place. I am not looking for something that is a pathway to citizenship, I am more interested in a Red Card Visa; a visa which ties to a specific job and employer,” he said.
Hurd recognizes there is a huge agricultural economy in his district and he wants to make legislative decisions that enhance that sector of the economy. Part of that is tied to his commitment to ensuring the H2A visas work for the agricultural community and food growers in the district.
Hurd said that he understands the position of farmers and ranchers in his district when they talk about needing seasonal help from H2A visa programs. He also understands that merit-based visa programs allow for employers in the U.S. to fill a gap in the workforce that, at this point in time, needs filled.