Gabe Evans Repeatedly Misstated Details About His Grandfather’s Immigration Story

Evans Said His Grandfather Immigrated From Mexico In “Search Of A Safer Place To Raise A Family And Chase The American Dream,” Despite Arriving When He Was Only Five Years Old

June 2024: Evans Said His Grandfather Immigrated From Mexico In “Search Of A Safer Place To Raise A Family And Chase The American Dream.”

Image: see original report, p. 57

[Gabe Evans for Congress, Facebook, 6/12/24]

• Evans’ Grandfather Immigrated From Mexico When He Was Five Years Old. “The email announced Evans’ candidacy for Colorado’s toss-up 8th Congressional District, and it began with a story the Fort Lupton Republican has told countless times throughout his political career — the story of his grandfather, Cuauhtemoc Chavez, who was born in Mexico and earned U.S. citizenship through his Army service in World War II…Those records show that the Chavez family, and a young Cuauhtemoc in particular, were squarely on the wrong side of the ‘strong immigration policies’ his grandson now invokes his name to champion. A 1941 Immigration and Naturalization Service document, obtained through a records request with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, shows that Cuauhtemoc entered the country unlawfully with his mother and siblings in 1929, at the age of 5, and resided unlawfully in Texas for the intervening 12 years. The document, known as an alien registration form, or an AR-2, was prepared shortly after Cuauhtemoc, then 16 years old, was arrested for an ‘immigration violation’ in El Paso and ‘made the subject of deportation proceedings.’” [Colorado Newsline, 7/22/25]

Evans Claimed His Grandfather Became A Citizen In 1943 While Serving In The Amry, But Immigration Records Indicated He Was Granted Citizenship In 1946 Under A 1944 Law That Eliminated Proof Of Lawful Entry As A Requirement For Naturalization

2022: Evans Claimed His Grandfather Became A Citizen In 1943 While Serving In The Army, But Immigration Records Indicated He Was Granted Citizenship In 1946. “In a 2022 statement to Spanish-language newspaper La Prensa de Colorado, Evans, then a first-time state House candidate, wrote that Cuauhtemoc had ‘acquir(ed) citizenship in 1943,’ while serving in the Army. In fact, records show that he did not apply for naturalization until several years later, in 1946. The discrepancy is significant because Cuauhtemoc’s naturalization petition indicates that he was granted citizenship under a 1944 law that eliminated proof of ‘lawful entry’ as a requirement for naturalization.” [Colorado Newsline, 7/22/25]

• Colorado Newsline: The Discrepancy In Evans’ Claim Of What Year His Grandfather Became A Citizen Was “Significant” Because Evans’ Grandfather Was Granted Citizenship Under A 1944 Law That Eliminated Proof Of Lawful Entry As A Requirement For Naturalization. “In a 2022 statement to Spanish-

language newspaper La Prensa de Colorado, Evans, then a first-time state House candidate, wrote that Cuauhtemoc had ‘acquir(ed) citizenship in 1943,’ while serving in the Army. In fact, records show that he did not apply for naturalization until several years later, in 1946. The discrepancy is significant because Cuauhtemoc’s naturalization petition indicates that he was granted citizenship under a 1944 law that eliminated proof of ‘lawful entry’ as a requirement for naturalization.” [Colorado Newsline, 7/22/25]

Evans Claimed It Took His Grandfather 13 Years To Receive U.S. Citizenship, But Immigration Records Indicated Evans’ Grandfather Applied Once For Citizenship In 1946 And Was Granted Citizenship The Same Year

Evans Claimed It Took His Grandfather 13 Years To Receive U.S. Citizenship, But Immigration Records Showed Evans’ Grandfather Did Not Apply For Citizenship Before 1946. “Evans repeated the inaccurate timeline during his 2024 congressional campaign. He told the Berthoud Weekly Surveyor that it ‘took (Cuauhtemoc) 13 years to get his citizenship,’ likening his wait to a story he’d heard on the campaign trail of a Colorado resident who ‘legally pursue(d) citizenship for 17 years.’ But Cuauhtemoc affirmed twice — first on his 1941 AR-2 form and then on his 1946 petition for citizenship — that he had not previously applied for naturalization.” [Colorado Newsline, 7/22/25]

• According To Records, Evans’ Grandfather Became A Citizen In 1946. “In a 2022 statement to Spanish-language newspaper La Prensa de Colorado, Evans, then a first-time state House candidate, wrote that Cuauhtemoc had ‘acquir(ed) citizenship in 1943,’ while serving in the Army. In fact, records show that he did not apply for naturalization until several years later, in 1946. The discrepancy is significant because Cuauhtemoc’s naturalization petition indicates that he was granted citizenship under a 1944 law that eliminated proof of ‘lawful entry’ as a requirement for naturalization.” [Colorado Newsline, 7/22/25]