Equity & Civil Rights

Everyone is entitled to equal rights and economic opportunity

Senator Hickenlooper believes that everyone is entitled to equal rights and justice under the law, no matter your race, ethnicity, religion, gender, or whom you love. Embracing different backgrounds and identities makes our society stronger.

Communities of color have suffered from decades of discrimination in employment, education, health care, housing, and more. Senator Hickenlooper is committed to combating this injustice and expanding economic opportunity for all. This includes making workforce training and higher education more accessible, expanding paid family leave, and helping underrepresented communities start small businesses. While helping to pass the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, Senator Hickenlooper worked to ensure underfunded Colorado communities could secure investments to build high-quality infrastructure and work to mitigate harmful air pollution.

Senator Hickenlooper believes that our criminal justice system needs reform. He supports the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act and other efforts to ensure safer interactions with the police. He also thinks it is time for the federal government to follow Colorado’s lead and reform our federal cannabis laws. Senator Hickenlooper supports decriminalizing marijuana and sentencing relief for people – often Black men – who have been imprisoned for nonviolent marijuana crimes.

Equity for all also means access to the ballot box. Protecting every American’s right to vote should not be a partisan issue. Colorado has led the way by expanding vote-by-mail, and Senator Hickenlooper will continue working to pass legislation that protects voting rights – especially for historically disenfranchised groups. He cosponsors several pieces of voting rights legislation, including For the People Act, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and the Freedom to Vote Act.

For LGBTQ+ Americans, Senator Hickenlooper co-sponsors the Equality Act, which expands federal civil rights protections to sexual orientation and gender identity. He voted in favor of the bipartisan Respect for Marriage Act, which protects marriage equality and guarantees same-sex and interracial couples the same rights afforded to all other marriages. He also has been outspoken against the Trump administration’s attacks on the LGBTQ+ community, including taking over the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. to host a pride celebration. We should strive for an America where who you love or how you identify has no impact on your physical safety or ability to succeed.

During the second Trump administration, American communities have seen an influx of targeted, violent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity. Our country has watched in horror as masked ICE agents in unmarked cars have detained individuals and separated families with no accountability or transparency. Senator Hickenlooper has been clear: enforcement without accountability undermines our values and our security. 

He believes we can restore humanity to our immigration system while maintaining a secure border and upholding the rule of law. In the Senate, he has been outspoken in the face of U.S. ICE’s lawlessness and has demanded a top-to-bottom overhaul of the agency. He has introduced legislation to ban ICE from wearing masks and require them to display clear identification. He has fought to prevent immigration enforcement from targeting schools, hospitals, polling locations, and places of worship. He’s also pushed for stronger oversight and transparency measures, voted against excessive funding increases for the Department of Homeland Security, and helped families desperately searching for loved ones arrested by ICE. 

Senator Hickenlooper has a vision for a better immigration system. He supports commonsense reforms that modernize border management, expand lawful pathways to citizenship, and create a fair, reliable guest worker system that strengthens our economy while protecting American workers.