The Boulder County Democratic Party has voted to condemn U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper for a vote the Colorado Democrat cast in February to block undocumented immigrants from receiving pandemic aid payments.

Calling Hickenlooper’s Feb. 4 support for Republican-sponsored non-binding amendment to the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package “misguided,” the county party’s executive committee voted 40-5 Wednesday night to approve the reprimand.

The move follows a firestorm of outrage among Democrats that erupted in the immediate wake of Hickenlooper’s vote, including a call by three of the state’s Democratic National Committee members to censure the lawmaker, who served two terms as governor and took office in the Senate at the beginning of the year.

The amendment, offered by U.S. Sen. Todd Young, an Indiana Republican, passed 58-42 with eight Democrats supporting it, but wasn’t ultimately included in the pandemic relief legislation signed a week later by President Joe Biden. Colorado’s senior senator, Democrat Michael Bennet, voted against the Young amendment.

While supporters withdrew what would have been an unprecedented censure by the state party of a top elected Democrat, the Boulder Democrats pressed ahead with a resolution that acknowledged the vote was symbolic — the legislation didn’t authorize stimulus payments to undocumented immigrants — but appeared designed to “stoke fear and division rather than having a constructive purpose.”

“Sen. Hickenlooper’s vote in support of this cruel amendment did nothing but to signal to the nation that the U.S. Senate does not view the contributions and hardships of undocumented Americans as equal to those Americans with the right papers,” Raffi Mercuri, the Boulder Democrats’ chair, said in a statement after the vote.

“The Boulder County Democratic Party stands firmly in solidarity with our undocumented neighbors, and we demand that Sen. Hickenlooper stand firmly with the immigrant community on future votes.”

A spokesman for The Colorado Democrats declined to comment on the county party’s decision.

A spokesperson for Hickenlooper told Colorado Politics that the senator is fighting for immigrants regardless of their status.

“Sen. Hickenlooper meets regularly with Latino community leaders and in his first 100 days he’s voted to protect COVID relief for mixed-status families and cosponsored some of the most progressive immigration measures in decades, including the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, the SECURE Act, and the Citizenship for Essential Workers Act,” the Hickenlooper spokesperson said in a written statement.

“This builds upon his lengthy track record as governor and mayor when he expanded driver’s licenses and in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants. He’ll continue working with his colleagues to find a way to get these important proposals across the finish line in Washington.”

Since the early February vote, Hickenlooper has signed on to co-sponsor bills that establish pathways to citizenship for an estimated 400,000 immigrants with Temporary Protected Status and another 5.2 million undocumented immigrants who are essential workers. He’s also signed on to President Joe Biden’s comprehensive immigration proposal, which is backed by leading immigrant advocates.

Alex Galeana, managing director of Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition Action Fund, said the group has a “two-pronged” reaction to this week’s developments.

The Boulder County Democrats’ resolution, Galeana said, “shows that they are wiling to stand up for the democratic values of supporting our community, which we really do appreciate. We commend that.”

“With that being said, though,” he continued, “we want to make clear that even though Sen. Hickenlooper taking the Young amendment vote was detrimental to our community, he has since met with us and made his senior staff available. One thing the senator has done is, he has taken some very progressive steps forward and is showing the immigrant community that he is going to be a champion. He has started taking some first good steps.”

According to the Boulder County Democratic Party’s records of the resolution’s history, one committee member argued that publicly rebuking Hickenlooper amounted to “‘eating our own’ over what was ultimately a meaningless vote.”

Explaining why he opposed advancing the resolution at an earlier meeting, Guy Errickson said he agreed it was “a bad move” by Hickenlooper but added, “I believe it just gives ammo to the deranged extremist right wing fanatics.” He suggested that sending the senator a letter expressing the party’s disappointment would be more appropriate than airing public grievances about “something few people even know about.”