E Pluribus Unum. Law, Love, and the Work of Becoming One

I serve in the Colorado House of Representatives to represent the citizens of House District 45 first. Public safety is not an abstraction. It is the condition that allows families to thrive, businesses to grow, and communities to trust one another. The rule of law is the foundation that makes that possible. A proposal advanced this week at the Capitol, allowing lawsuits against federal immigration agents for carrying out lawful duties, strikes at both.

This legislation does not exist in a vacuum. It reflects a growing impulse to treat enforcement itself as a moral failing. That impulse is misguided. When a state punishes those tasked with enforcing the law, it creates hesitation where decisiveness is required. It replaces clarity with confusion. In that vacuum, criminal networks flourish, victims multiply, and order erodes. No society can remain safe when those sworn to protect it are treated as adversaries.

America has always been a nation of immigrants, but it has never been a nation without laws. The two ideas are not in tension. They are inseparable. The genius of our system is not merely that people come from many places, but that they are invited to become one people. E Pluribus Unum does not end with diversity. It culminates in unity. Becoming one is the work. Becoming one is the promise.

That promise requires structure. It requires boundaries. It requires a legal process that transforms newcomers into citizens who share a common civic identity, a common set of responsibilities, and a common stake in the future. Legal immigration is not an obstacle to compassion. It is compassion rightly ordered. It is intentional. It is thoughtful. It equips people to succeed, to contribute, and to fully belong.

Illegal immigration undermines that process and the people it claims to help. It places vulnerable individuals at the mercy of traffickers and cartels. It strains local services meant for lawful residents. It complicates law enforcement efforts and diverts resources from real community needs. Most importantly, it fractures trust. A society cannot function when the law is optional, and accountability is selective.

Authentic love is not permissive. It is protective. It sets limits because limits safeguard what matters. Every parent understands this truth. Every enduring civilization has lived by it. Laws are not instruments of cruelty. They are expressions of care for the innocent and the vulnerable. They exist to ensure that freedom does not decay into disorder.

Policies that shield illegal activity by targeting lawful enforcement confuse mercy with indulgence. They elevate ideology over reality. They tell victims that their suffering is secondary. They tell citizens that their safety is negotiable. That is not wisdom. It is abdication.

Colorado can choose a better path. We can be a state that honors the dignity of every person while upholding the rule of law. We can welcome newcomers through a process that prepares them for prosperity and civic life. We can insist that unity, not fragmentation, is the goal of a free society.

I will continue to oppose legislation that weakens cooperation with federal law enforcement and erodes public safety. I will continue to argue that love and the law belong together. And I will continue to remind my colleagues and constituents alike that the American experiment succeeds not because we are many, but because we choose, together, to become one.