Posted on 12/06/2017 6:44:07 PM PST by iowamark
GOP senators are pushing forward with legislation that would extend an Obama-era program allowing young immigrants to live and work in the United States, while pairing it with new measures to bolster border security.
The legislation, introduced by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), allows the Trump administration to build “tactical and technological infrastructure” along the U.S.-Mexico border.
It would target funding for so-called sanctuary cities that don’t comply with federal immigration law, bolster the e-verify employment verification program and crack down on "chain migration" by limiting which family members U.S. citizens and permanent residents can try to sponsor for a green card. The bill would also incorporate a separate measure extending for three years the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which allows immigrants brought into the country illegally as children to work and go to school under certain conditions.
“After having these discussions, and after meeting with the president to get his input and his support, we’ve come up with a plan. This plan is fair to all parties. It’s pro-American. And it’s a solution to DACA,” Grassley said from the Senate floor as he introduced the Security, Enforcement and Compassion United in Reform Efforts, or SECURE, Act.
In addition to Grassley, the bill is backed by GOP Sens. John Cornyn (Texas), Thom Tillis (N.C.), James Lankford (Okla.), Tom Cotton (Ark.) and David Perdue (Ga.).
The Trump administration announced in September that it would wind down the DACA program. It gave Congress until mid-March to come up with a legislative solution. If Congress fails to pass a bill, hundreds of thousands of immigrants will be at risk of being deported.
Senators have been jockeying over DACA for months, with the fight ratcheting up this month as several House Democrats and a growing number of progressive senators warn they will not support a government funding bill without a deal on the program.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) immediately panned the GOP legislation on Tuesday, saying the bill is not a “good faith effort to provide protection for the Dreamers, including those who were enrolled in DACA."
“The laundry list of unrelated immigration bills which they have offered is designed to delay and stop any serious bipartisan effort to solve this crisis created by the Trump administration,” he said.
Durbin rejected an offer from Grassley and Cornyn that paired Cornyn’s border security bill with a DACA fix that did not include a path to citizenship.
Durbin countered with an offer that paired the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors, or DREAM, Act with roughly a dozen provisions from Cornyn's border security bill.
The DREAM Act, unlike DACA, includes a path to citizenship. But that's considered a nonstarter for many supporters in Trump’s base, which has warned him against breaking from the hardline immigration rhetoric used during his presidential campaign.
GOP Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) has been working with Durbin on trying to find a bipartisan agreement on the issue.
“tied to tough enforcement measures”
Yeah.
Where have we heard THAT one before?
https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/grassley-secure-act-protects-daca-recipients-and-provides-needed-reforms
“Grassley: SECURE Act Protects DACA Recipients and Provides Needed Reforms to Immigration System”
“Prepared Senate Floor Statement by Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa December 5, 2017
I rise today to offer brief remarks regarding the introduction of the Security, Enforcement, and Compassion United in Reform Efforts, or SECURE Act, of 2017. This bill promotes and protects the interests of the American people in a lawful immigration system, and provides a fair and equitable solution on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. It’s the product of several months of hard work between myself and Senators Cornyn, Graham, Tillis, Lankford, Perdue, and Cotton.
Before I discuss what exactly this bill does, let me talk about the process we used to reach this point.
On September 5, 2017, Attorney General Sessions announced that President Trump had decided to rescind former President Obama’s unlawful executive amnesty program.
Because almost 700,000 young people relied on President Obama’s false promise, the Trump Administration called on Congress to find the only real type of long-term solution to this issue—a legislative one.
Starting in September, I’ve held multiple meetings with Senators Cornyn, Graham, Tillis, Lankford, Perdue, and Cotton to determine how best to fix DACA.
Our aim was to find a solution that not only is fair for DACA recipients, but also promotes the interests of the American people.
The immigration policies of the previous administration carried consequences that weren’t always in our best interests. For example, President Obama allowed thousands of people to illegally cross our borders and stay in our country, including dangerous gang members, sex offenders, and violent criminals. Robust border security is crucial to bring integrity back to our nation’s immigration enforcement.
The enforcement policies of the previous administration enabled dangerous unauthorized criminals, individuals like Kate Steinle’s killer, to have free reign in our country, risking the safety of innocent Americans.
The flagrant disregard of so called “sanctuary” jurisdictions unfairly take tax dollars from hardworking Americans, only to ignore the rule of law and their own people’s public safety.
In crafting our bill, we also considered the inherent unfairness in our nation’s immigration court and asylum adjudication systems, and how hundreds of thousands of aliens wait in backlogs for years at a time. That’s wrong, it hurts the people who are stuck in that backlog, and it’s unfair to ask the American people and legal immigrants to bear the burden of supporting these people why they wait.
And finally, thanks to the leadership of Senators Graham, Perdue, and Cotton, we discussed the need for a merit-based immigration system, one where we bring people to this country based on what they can contribute, and not simply because they have some attenuated family relationship to a legal immigrant who’s already here.
So, after having these discussions, and after meeting with the President to get his input and his support, we’ve come up with a plan. This plan is fair to all parties. It’s pro-American. And it’s a solution to DACA.
Our plan, the SECURE Act of 2017, provides a solution to all of the issues we discussed. First, building off of the hard work and leadership of Senator Cornyn, we’re putting the days of porous, uncontrolled borders behind us.
We’re doing this by mandating the construction of tactical and technological infrastructure at the border. We’re also beefing up our law enforcement and judicial resources, and putting more boots on the ground in Border States, so that we can better apprehend and prosecute those who enter our country illegally.
Our plan takes meaningful steps to end the lawlessness and tragedies at the hands of dangerous criminal aliens throughout our country. We do this by cracking down on sanctuary cities, ending the misguided catch and release policies of the previous administration, and finally taking real steps to address intentional visa overstays.
In recognition of the many Americans who’ve lost their lives to criminal aliens, we included Kate’s law, named after Kate Steinle.
This legislation enhances penalties for repeat illegal border crossers, and expands the inadmissibility and expedited removal of terrorists, gang members, aggravated felons, and drunk drivers.
We also provide a fix to the disastrous Zadvydas decision so that the government doesn’t keep releasing dangerous criminals onto our streets because of their home countries’ refusals to take responsibility.
Our bill takes steps to eliminate many of the “pull” factors that encourage people to immigrate illegally.
We do this by permanently authorizing the e-verify program and providing immunity and other incentives to encourage small businesses to participate.
We also take meaningful steps to reduce immigration court and asylum adjudication backlogs by hiring more judges and personnel, limiting the number of continuances an immigrant can receive, and imposing new safeguards to combat well-documented fraud and abuse.
Again, thanks to the leadership and advocacy of Senators Graham, Perdue, and Cotton, our bill eliminates the phenomenon known as ‘chain migration.’
From the day this bill becomes law, immigrants will only be able to bring their spouses and minor children into the country.
This bi-partisan pro-American worker reform, which the President strongly supports, is an important first step towards creating the merit-based, economically productive immigration system that both Democrats and Republicans want to see.
Finally, and most importantly, we provide a bi-partisan solution to protect undocumented young people brought to the United States as children by adopting the Bar Removal of Individuals who Dream and Grow our Economy, or the BRIDGE Act.
Senator Durbin called the BRIDGE Act “an opportunity for supporters and critics of DACA to come together and address a compelling humanitarian issue on a bipartisan basis.” We agree.
The BRIDGE Act is supported by Senators Graham, Durbin, Gillibrand, Heller, Murkowski, Feinstein, Nelson, Flake, Schumer and Harris. It would provide relief from deportation and work authorization to DACA recipients, allowing them to continue to fulfill their dreams and contribute to our economy.
As you can see, our plan has fair, bi-partisan, and serious provisions. By listening to colleagues, and adopting solutions that both sides can agree on, we’re providing a real solution to the immigration issues our country is facing.
Our plan protects the DACA kids, it cracks down on the criminal illegal aliens, and it provides real long-term reforms to our nation’s immigration system that benefit the American people. And it does so through the proper legislative process, which provides greater certainty for Americans and immigrants alike.
Importantly, it is also supported by the President. That’s all the more reason to pass this bill and fulfill our promises to the American people and the DACA recipients.
Again, I want to thank the hard work of Senators Cornyn, Graham, Tillis, Lankford, Perdue, and Cotton, and their staffs, in developing this solution. I’m looking forward to considering this measure in the new year, and to seeing President Trump sign it into law.
“
Beat me to it. Exactly what I was going to post. Great minds think alike. At least as long as the Marsala bottle ain’t empty.
This is BULL . WE WANT THE DAMNED WALL!!Cut this crap out or get these adults out of here.
Another can kicked down the road. Enough of this nonsense!!!!
There really is a simple solution which will expose the left as well as force every Democrat to go on record.
DACA passes with a path to citizenship. As soon as the wall along the entire southern border is complete. The bill is 2 lines.
Exactly right. Congress appropriated millions of dollars for so-called “enhanced” border security several times under Bush and Obama administrations however the enhancements never materialized and the money was never heard from again. More deep state and uniparty bullshit. We need to start buying lampposts by the dozens.
Let these jack asses know that THAT WILL NEVER FLY!! “increased security” is total BULL CRAP!! WE WANT THE WALL 100% Funded and built in one year by what ever it takes. If Trump falls for this it will split his base to hell. I saw this coming about 10 days ago when they started trial balloons to deceive us into this nonsense. Let you Senators know like I am that that deal SUCKS!!
send everyone back to where they belong. Line up and start over with wall and extreme vetting.
Illegal aliens are ALL dangerous unauthorized criminals, ALL of them broke federal law coming here, ALL of them have free reign in our country and can even VOTE thanks to treasonous U.S. do-nothing lawmakers! What the hell is wrong with the morons in congress and in the state houses? Chambers of Commerce got you all by the short hairs?
N O
They needed help. We gave them some.
Now it’s time for them to go back home.
See ya!
We already have tough enforcement measures codified into signed legislation!!!!!!!!! It’s called find illegals, capture illegals, deport illegals grrrrrr this crap ticks me off beyond belief
This is OUTRAGEOUS! Trump needs to straighten this out RIGHT NOW. Absolutely NO DAMNED AMNESTY!! We want the WALL NOW like was promised and I don’t mean Maybe. Don’t fall for this . We already did increased security., We will never support amnesty. Let me define AMNESTY. Amnesty is the forgiveness of broken laws . It is not and never was “a path to citizenship”. NO DAMNED AMNESTY!!~! BUILD THE WALL~!~! I knew they would try this. I heard that Rino basturd Cornyn say “ No Wall-— Increased Security “. And here it is. Well. they can go to hell. If the Republicans want to loose in 18 like they cant even imagine they need to keep pushing this crap.; We did NOT vote for this lie, WE VOTED FOR THE WALL. WE WANT THE WALL!!
Boy this makes me Mad. They just dont want to get it in their thick skulls that we dont pay taxes to give amnesty to 700,000 illegal alien mexicans!! W#e want the WALL!! Trump must kill this snake before it gets out of the hole!!
They always say these “kids” should not be blamed and are here through no fault of their own. My question is this, how is that different from ANY child? We all reap the benefits and punishments of our parents decisions from the baby who is aborted to the children of doped up parents to the kids of Bill Gates. Why is this single circumstance any sadder or different from any child who is in any circumstance through no fault of their own?
I agree. There’s no sense in saying “no amnesty whatsoever” if you can get the donks to refuse it for you in exchange for that eminently reasonable demand. When their precious dreamers start getting sent back to their home countries, they’ll have no one to blame but themselves.
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