With congressional Republicans leaving early to duck questions related to the Epstein files, maybe someone in northern Colorado will get the opportunity to see how Rep. Gabe Evans would feel about his grandfather being handcuffed, put in a van and shipped off to Alligator Alcatraz?
In an exceptional piece of investigative journalism, Colorado Newsline’s Chase Woodruff exposed the hypocrisy Evans has lived since announcing his candidacy for Congress.
Evans won the 8th Congressional District by just about 2,500 votes, or 0.74%, in 2024. That made the race one of the closest in the country. The Cook Political Report currently lists his 2026 race as one of the eight “Toss Up” seats held by Republicans. Among those eight, he is one of just three freshman members, historically more vulnerable than established incumbents who have years of building electoral coalitions and name ID.
Key to Evans’ victory were two parallel stories. First, his experience as a police officer created a lifelong commitment to following the law. Second, that his family immigrated to America “the right way” — and that others should be held to the same standard.
Woodruff’s article shredded both storylines.
The Trump Administration has done little to bolster faith in law enforcement in general. To the contrary, daily images of masked, unidentified individuals wearing tactical vests while chasing people through Home Depot parking lots has cratered both trust and respect for law enforcement across the country. Another year of decline could make Evans’ past career into a liability rather than an asset.
More importantly, few people garner more contempt in society than law enforcement officials who lie and play favorites. Always held to a higher standard due to the critical role they play in our justice system, police who lie undermine the good work of everyone else.
While Evans is no Captain McCluskey or Vic Mackey, his lies about his grandfather cannot be ignored. He spun a story for his own benefit and ignored the truth. He told people what he wanted them to hear, not what actually happened. That type of manipulation is unacceptable.
Evans’ lies get even worse when put into the context of his recent comments and votes related to migrants.
Both on the campaign trail and in the halls of Congress, Evans has repeatedly told the story of his grandfather, Cuauhtemoc Chavez, as the example for others. In Evans’ words, that means “stand in line and do it the right way, do it the legal way, so you are not leapfrogging over those folks like my grandfather, who did it the right way and did it the legal way.”
And that is the lie Evans has been caught telling. His grandfather skipped over people in line by skipping over the border. Documents unearthed by Woodruff definitively show that Chavez engaged in “illegal entry” into our country. He did not submit an application for entry and did not wait until he had been approved, he just marched across the border with the rest of his family.
Personally, I understand. They were looking for a better life. They wanted to live the American dream by working hard and creating something they could not where they were born. That has always drawn people to America. In President Ronald Reagan’s words, it is the “shining city up on a hill” beckoning to people across the world.
Certainly Evan has benefited from the fruit of their labor.
But he would deny that to others seeking the same. He has repeatedly agreed with President Donald Trump and his calls to deport millions of migrants. He has sponsored bills and voted to remove people who did nothing different than his own family.
When Evans attempts to soften his stance — apparently he is not blind to how poorly such callous positions must play in a swing district — he usually does so by singling out migrants with a criminal record. But even such splitting of hairs does not help save him from his own past.
Chavez did not have a spotless criminal history. He had been arrested for “attempted burglary” while in this country. That is not some sort of victimless crime or civil infraction. It is a criminal offense well beyond the traffic infractions Evans would use as justification to deport migrants today. The Laken Riley Act he championed specifically listed “burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting” to trigger deportation.
People detained with such history have been shipped off to places like Florida’s Alligator Alcatraz. Unless Evans admits his abuelito deserved to endure such cruelty, it is hard to see why he believes today’s migrants should. The only difference is that it is someone he cared for — and today’s migrants are not.
Evans has not used his position to protest the detention of a father whose sons served this country as U.S. Marines. He has not stood up to the administration when they deported children with cancer. He did not object to ICE threats forcing a Purple Heart recipient, who lived in this country since he was 7 years old, to self-deport or face detention.
As Evans comes back to Colorado this summer and begins to ask constituents for their vote, I hope that they will ask him why he believes his grandfather deserved to live the American Dream and these people do not.
Mario Nicolais is an attorney and columnist who writes on law enforcement, the legal system, health care and public policy. Follow him on Bluesky: @MarioNicolais.bsky.social.
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Type of Story: Opinion
Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the author/producer’s interpretation of facts and data.