{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://gabeevans.house.gov/media/press-releases/icymi-congressman-evans-sounds-alarm-rising-attacks-against-law-enforcement", "ICYMI: Congressman Evans Sounds the Alarm on Rising Attacks Against Law Enforcement", "2025-12-05", "2025", "2025-12", "Republican", "House", "CO", "Gabe Evans", "E000300", "gabeevans.house.gov", "gabeevans", "https://gabeevans.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "In case you missed it \u2026 The Committee on Homeland Security held a full committee hearing titled \u201cWhen Badges Become Targets: How Anti- Law Enforcement Rhetoric Fuels Violence Against Officers.\u201d The hearing examined the surge in threats and rise in targeted attacks against Law Enforcement.\n\nAs a former cop, Congressman Evans knows \u2014 this fight is personal. During his five-minute speech, Rep. Evans took to the mic to detail his firsthand experience and highlight the attacks against Coloradans who walk the thin blue line.\n\nRead highlights below or watch the full video here.\n\n\u201cI was a cop for ten years in the Denver metro area. The reason I am in Congress is because in 2020 the ruling democrats in Colorado passed a bill that took the first steps toward defunding law enforcement and toward making cops guilty until they proved themselves innocent.\n\n[...]\n\nI watched my cops suffer. I buried countless others when I was on the honor guard. And in terms of refusing to condemn physical or political violence \u2014 I will remind everyone of two votes that happened earlier this year where every single member of the United States House of Representative voted to condemn the murder of a Democrat leader in Minnesota. But 118 of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle could not vote to condemn the murder of Charlie Kirk.\n\n[...]\n\nWhen cops are handcuffed, it's the cops who suffer. And not only is it the cops who suffer, it's the low-income and the minority communities that suffer.\n\n[...]\n\nMy district is 40% Hispanic. You know who suffers when we don't have law enforcement to keep our communities safe? It's my low-income and my minority communities.\n\n[...]\n\nColorado has led the nation more years than not the last 5 years in auto theft. You know what happens when one of my Hispanic trade workers gets their vehicle stolen? Not only are they out of vehicle, they've lost their job because they can't show up to the job site tomorrow to do the work. I've seen this happen because I've taken those reports.\n\n[...]\n\nWe just had the sixth largest fentanyl seizure in US history in Colorado. 12 kgs of fentanyl, 1.7 million illicit pills, enough to kill 6.8 million people, every man, woman, and child in Colorado.\n\n[...]\n\nThe defund the police and sanctuary city style politics that I personally experienced as a law enforcement officer in Colorado \u2014 it's why I'm in Congress today.\n\n[...]\n\nUnder the previous administration, more Americans died as a result of drug overdoses like fentanyl than were killed in the entire September 11th terrorist attacks. That's personal to me too because I am a combat veteran of the Global War on Terror.\n\nI deployed to protect this country and to turn around to see these cartels, and these criminals, and these peddlers of poison, being able to run free in our communities because of defund-the-police rhetoric, and because of sanctuary city and state policies is absolutely onerous to me.\n\nIt's onerous to the people that I have sworn oaths to protect and defend as I uphold the Constitution.\n\n[...]\n\nCops experience the physical, mental, moral, and emotional injuries of this job. And all of those things are made worse as a result of anti-law enforcement rhetoric.\"\n\nBackground:\n\nCongressman Gabe Evans \u2014 a combat veteran, former police officer, and the grandson of Mexican immigrants \u2014 is fighting back against the sanctuary-state policies fueling crime across Colorado. Representing a district that is 40% Hispanic, he has seen firsthand how these policies hurt working families, small businesses, and minority communities.\n\nRep. Evans is leading the charge to restore public safety by ensuring law enforcement has the tools and support they need, despite Colorado\u2019s leftist state policies, laws and politicians that have demoralized them.\n\nTwo key pieces of legislation he has introduced include:\n\nThe UPLIFT Act: Reverses sanctuary policies, restores cooperation with federal partners, and protects victims harmed by criminal illegal immigrants.\n\nLaw Enforcement Support & Counter Transnational Repression Act: Helps communities identify and respond to foreign intimidation on U.S. soil.\n\nIn addition to this legislation, Rep Evans has worked alongside GOP members of Colorado\u2019s congressional delegation including Congresswoman Lauren Boebert (CO-04) and Congressman Jeff Crank (CO-05) to send several letters to Governor Polis regarding their concern for Colorado\u2019s escalating crime crisis:\n\nColorado Reps. Evans, Boebert and Crank Demand Polis Take Action on Colorado\u2019s Crime Crisis\n\nReps. Evans, Boebert and Crank Urge Polis to Work With Them on Colorado's Public Safety Crisis\n\nRep. Evans' speech was made shortly after the largest single Fentanyl bust in Colorado\u2019s history \u2014 and the 6th largest in the nation \u2014 on November 17, 2025. The record seizure contained 1.7 million counterfeit fentanyl pills, 2.5 pounds of methamphetamine, and another 12 kilograms of fentanyl powder.\n\nFor context, 1.7 million counterfeit fentanyl pills can kill 850,000 Coloradans, and 1kg of pure fentanyl can kill 500,000 people, so that seizure was enough to kill 6.85 million people \u2014 every human in Colorado.\n\nColorado is in the midst of a severe fentanyl crisis, with its drug overdose rates declining at a significantly lower rate than most other states, remaining higher than before the pandemic and costing Coloradans more than $13 billion a year. Additionally, reflective of that tragic statistic, the state has the second highest teen overdose rates in the country according to a 2024 study.\n\nTo combat the crisis, Congressman Evans has introduced the bipartisan No Fentanyl on Social Media Act with Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-06), which targets the online trafficking of fentanyl to minors and requires federal action to shut down the digital pipeline.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://gabeevans.house.gov/media/press-releases/icymi-congressman-evans-sounds-alarm-rising-attacks-against-law-enforcement"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.0961931440979242, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}