When border security inaction became a certainty, I wrote both of our Senators and our Representative Scott Tipton last week. We received a brain dead auto-response from the Republican Sen. Cory Gardner (RINO wearing Democrat horns, who we voted for and will do our upmost to defeat next election). Tipton's answer was OK, but the one that took the cheese was Democrap Senator Michael Bennet.

Without permission we don't repost readers' comments – ever, but Bennet is a public entity so all is fair game. A site reader wrote and spurred this article:

"I do not participate on social media and feel paralyzed by not having a voice. I believe the majority of Americans are moderate, like me. I've tried in the past to contact my elected officials, of course to no avail. I have voiced my displeasure to media outlets (abc news, my local paper, etc.) and of course no response. If anything I make myself a target of sorts."

Like this woman, I don't do social media. Because — with equal weight, it's too intrusive, requires too much time, dumps to hackers all your private details and — I have a life.

Below you will read our letter to Sen. Bennet and his utterly inane, tone deaf, brain-dead response. No wonder people don't feel they are being heard. We aren't! Our advice, vote them out!

Should you want to contact your Congress people: Find Your Representative By Zip Code, go here or find your Senator here.

January 9, 2019
Dear Senator Bennet,

While fixing our broken immigration system is important, it does NOT fix the mess that is the southern border. It doesn't halt the 60,000 illegal immigrants crossing into the U.S. every month or prevent them from engaging in criminal activities once here.

In 2017 and 2018, ICE arrested ~235,000 aliens on criminal charges or convictions – already inside the U.S – including 100,000 for assault, 30,000 for sex crimes, 4,000 for homicide. It doesn't stop the literal tons of illicit drugs pouring into America across the southern border.

Drugs seized at border Jan-Aug 2018: 47,945 lbs - Cocaine, 4,813 lbs - Heroin, 283,084 lbs - Marijuana, 67,292 lbs - Methanphetamine, 1,357 lbs - Fentanyl (thru July 31) These aren't my stats; they are from our government.

PLEASE back President Trump on this issue and vote to fund the $5.7B for border security. It is only 1/10 of 1% of the budget. We need those extra Border Patrol agents, additional immigration judges and detention beds, in addition to building the border fence and reinforcing same where needed. We can't ignore the fact that technology doesn't always work. Drones can't fly in the rain, and other technology may be unusable after an EMP strike. Grid failure is something we know that concerns Congress so please vote to secure our nation.

Respectfully,
Stan and Holly Deyo

HIS RESPONSE:

January 14, 2019 (yeah, it took awhile for his flunkies to write back)
Dear Mr. and Mr. Deyo,

Thank you for contacting me. I appreciate hearing from you regarding the recent partial government shutdown.

On December 18, 2018, the Senate unanimously passed legislation to fund the government that would have prevented this shutdown. The Trump Administration had previously signaled its support for this agreement. The Administration, however, reversed its support for the agreement after the Senate passed it. As a result, the House Republican leadership refused even to allow for a vote on this legislation that would have kept the government open.

Due to the Administration’s reversal, on December 21, part of the federal government shut down. The shutdown has closed the doors of nine federal departments and dozens of agencies, grinding services to the American people to a halt through the holidays and beyond, harming our small businesses, rural communities, national parks, and jeopardizing Americans’ health and safety.

The President should not have shut down the government for his border wall funding. If any county commissioner or school superintendent approached their constituents after shutting down their government, they would be thrown out of office. And now, the President is adding extreme, unrealistic demands beyond what he has agreed to previously, threatening to continue the shutdown if Congress fails to provide $5.7 billion for border wall construction. Holding these type of partisan threats over our budget and appropriations process is no way to run our government.

There is broad bipartisan agreement that our immigration system is unworkable in its current form. It undermines the interests of our economy, our values, and our security. Congress has failed time and again to resolve our broken immigration system due to partisan gridlock. In 2013, I was part of the bipartisan Gang of Eight on comprehensive immigration reform that developed legislation to fix the challenges we are still dealing with today. That legislation provided $46 billion in funding for border security alongside reforms to make our legal immigration system better, while giving 11 million undocumented immigrants a path to earn American citizenship. The bill passed the Senate, 68-32, with overwhelming bipartisan support, but Republican leadership in the House failed to bring the legislation up for a vote.

In December 2017, I again worked on a bipartisan basis, this time to craft a permanent solution to protect Dreamers – people who came to America as children and know no other country – while also providing border security funding and addressing the areas of immigration policy that President Trump had asked Congress to fix. Unfortunately, after signaling he would support such an agreement, the President moved the goalposts and rejected that bipartisan solution.

Instead of making progress on border security and solving our immigration challenges, the President has shown he wants to continue using immigration policy as a means to divide our country. This political choice directly harms businesses, families, and communities across our country. To seriously address border security, we need improved technology, better-trained personnel, and more efficient operating structures along the southern border, not a 2,000 mile wall.

Democrats and Republicans must immediately work together to reopen the government. And if any issues on border security remain unresolved, we can work to forge consensus after the government is reopened.

I value the input of fellow Coloradans in considering the wide variety of important issues and legislative initiatives that come before the Senate. I hope you will continue to inform me of your thoughts and concerns. For more information about my priorities as a U.S. Senator, I invite you to visit my website. Again, thank you for contacting me.

Sincerely,

Michael F. Bennet
United States Senator

January 14, 2019,
TO HIS RESPONSE, MY FINAL MESSAGE:

Senator,

It's clear you did not read my message. While I didn't expect you to personally read it, it was anticipated that your aid or whoever, could at least understand English and comprehend content.

I wrote about the need to support President Trump on passing border fencing funding, mentioned nothing about the shutdown, yet you rant on for 8 paragraphs about that. No wonder constituents don't believe you guys pay attention to anything voters say or feel. You just proved it once again.

Holly Deyo

Are we fed up? You bet your bippy!