The Congressional Hispanic Caucus will oppose a deal to expand overall immigration, negotiated by Sens. James Lankford (R-OK), Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), because it does not include amnesty for millions of illegal aliens.
The bill, released this week, would expand overall immigration to the United States by continuing to funnel border crossers and illegal aliens into American communities through President Joe Biden’s parole pipeline while, at the same time, increasing legal immigration levels by 50,000 green cards every year.
Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Nanette Barragan (D-CA) said they will oppose the bill because it does not grant amnesty to millions of illegal aliens living in the U.S. Democrats use the term “DREAMers” to refer to many groups of illegal aliens, referencing the amnesty included in the DREAM Act, which has failed year after year in Congress.
“From what I have read so far, the Senate negotiated deal to address our challenges at the border fails to meet the moment,” Barragan said on behalf of the caucus, made up entirely of Democrats:
There are some good provisions in the bill. However, there are many more that are not in line with our values, take away due process safeguards in our asylum system, could make matters worse at the southern border, and more importantly, fail to include protections and legal pathways for our DREAMers or the greater undocumented community that calls America home. [Emphasis added]
Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-TX), who serves as whip for the caucus, said the bill’s failure to include amnesty for “all DREAMers is unacceptable.”
“… this is not real reform,” Garcia said. “Real reform would include a pathway to citizenship for ALL DREAMers. With this bill, Dreamers have been betrayed by the Senate. Americans have been clear: DREAMers need to stay.”
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) similarly said the bill is “unacceptable” because it does not include amnesty for illegal aliens:
This package — which we have just begun to study — doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. These changes are permanent in nature without any meaningful relief for the 12 million undocumented immigrants in the country, including DREAMers that have lived here for a decade or more. Major chunks of this legislation read like an enforcement wish list from the Trump administration, and directly clash with the most basic tenets of our asylum system. It would permanently contort our asylum system by making it harder for asylum seekers to have their claims heard and making it impossible for asylum claims to be adjudicated at all based on arbitrarily set trigger numbers that could shut down our border. [Emphasis added]
Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) said he will also oppose the bill on the basis that it does not provide amnesty to millions of illegal aliens.
“… it fails to provide relief for DREAMers, farm workers, and the other undocumented long-term residents of our country who contribute billions to our economy, work in essential jobs, and make America stronger,” Padilla said:
When I was sworn into this office, I made a promise that I would fight to fix our outdated immigration system and to create a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who have been forced to live in the shadows of our country for far too long. Not a day has gone by that I have not tried to reach out across the aisle to do exactly that. It is critical that we support our allies in their fight to defend democracy and provide humanitarian relief, but not at the expense of dismantling our asylum system while ultimately failing to alleviate the challenges at our border. [Emphasis added]
The bill, endorsed by President Joe Biden and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, would codify the administration’s Catch and Release network used at the southern border to free millions of illegal aliens into the U.S. interior.
In addition, the bill would allow nearly two million illegal aliens to arrive at the border every year — not including hundreds of thousands of Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs) — before DHS officials could use border controls.
The bill, among other things, also requires DHS to process 1,400 illegal aliens into the U.S. daily and preserves Biden’s massive parole pipeline that has helped release hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens into American communities.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at
