Colorado’s two senators had sharply different reactions to executive orders on immigration policy issued Wednesday by President Donald Trump.

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat, decried Trump’s directives, calling them divisive and dangerous, while his Republican colleague, U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, offered a somewhat tepid embrace.

Trump signed two executive orders at Department of Homeland Security headquarters after a ceremonial swearing-in of John Kelly, the department’s new secretary. The first calls for building a wall along the border between the United States and Mexico and the second covers immigration law enforcement, including a provision to punish so-called sanctuary cities by withholding federal funds.

“We are going to restore the rule of law in the United States,” Trump said, adding, “Beginning today, the United States of America gets back control of its borders.”

“Our immigration system is broken, and I look forward to working with my colleagues in Congress to advance solutions to reform it,” Gardner said in a statement. “That starts with securing our borders, enforcing our current laws, and improving our guest worker program. We have to find ways to further incentivize people to pursue the naturalization process, while at the same time making it clear that we are a nation of laws.”

Bennet, a member of the Senate’s Gang of Eight – authors of a bipartisan immigration reform bill four years ago – denounced the executive orders.

“Today’s executive orders on immigration will further divide our nation and do nothing to make our communities safer,” Bennet said in a statement. “Denying asylum-seekers due process undermines American values. Despite the president’s campaign rhetoric, it seems more and more likely that U.S. taxpayers will foot the bill to construct the wall. Finally, the ambiguous attempt to strip funding from so-called ‘sanctuary cities’ could deprive critical resources to local law enforcement throughout our state and make it harder to fight crime.”

He called on GOP leaders to consider a solution like the 2013 legislation produced by Bennet and seven other senators, which floundered in the Republican-controlled House.

“If the President and Congressional Republicans really want to fix our broken immigration system, they must offer solutions that honor our respect for the rule of law and our heritage as a nation of immigrants,” he said. “We did that in 2013 with a bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill, which would have secured our borders, strengthened our economy, and protected American workers while providing a tough but fair pathway to citizenship to immigrants who are contributing to their communities.”

“Unfortunately, ” Bennet added, “today’s announcement takes us in the opposite direction.”

The first executive order calls for DHS to immediately start to “construct a physical wall on the southern border” as well as start hiring 5,000 new border agents and 10,000 new immigration officers. The second order also reinstates the Secure Communities program, which the Immigration and Customs Enforcement division used to round up undocumented immigrants.

– ernest@coloradostatesman.com