Posted on 07/17/2013 5:51:56 PM PDT by Qbert
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Wednesday offered an endorsement for a proposal to grant citizenship to children who were brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents.
“This is about basic fairness,” Boehner said one week after convening a two-hour meeting to discuss immigration with his conference.
“These children were brought here of no accord of their own, and frankly they’re in a very difficult position,” he said. “And I think many of our members believe that this issue needs to be addressed.”
Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) are crafting a bill to deal with children brought to the U.S. illegally. They have said it will differ from the Dream Act in the Senate, which would grant citizenship to children brought to the U.S. illegally who meet certain requirements.
The Judiciary Committee plans to hold an initial hearing on the issue next week.
Becerra pans Cantor Dream Act plan as 'so yesterday'
“It’s an issue of decency and compassion,” Cantor said. “Where else would these kids go?”
Democrats have said the move to legalize children is a welcome step, but they are warning they won’t support an effort that would ignore the millions of other illegal immigrants.
"If they're going to talk about doing something for Dreamers that's short of even what the president did? I mean, come on. We've been there, we've done that, that's so yesterday," the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, Xavier Becerra (Calif.), told reporters.
"We hope that they're prepared to join us in today's world and not talk about, you know, the 20th century," he added.
Becerra is a member of a bipartisan House group negotiating a comprehensive immigration proposal that, he has said, includes a path to citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants now estimated to be in the country. That group is still putting the finishing touches on its 500-page bill and is likely to wait until after the August recess to release it, aides said.
“We’re running out of time,” another Democrat in the group, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (Ill.), said. He said the negotiators would meet again next week, but he wouldn’t make predictions beyond saying the group was “close” and there would “definitely” be a bill.
Boehner said it is “too early to predict” whether the House would vote on a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants as part of its overall effort to address the issue, and the Speaker signaled leadership had yet to decide on a way forward amid deep divisions among Republicans. “The committees are doing their work,” Boehner said. “We’re going about this in a common-sense, step-by-step approach, and we’re trying to be deliberative about how we deal with all of these issues, both fixing the problem of border security [and] internal enforcement, how to fix a broken legal immigration system, and yes, we’ve got the problem of those who are here that are undocumented.”
The House Judiciary and Homeland Security committees have approved five individual immigration bills, and Boehner said House leadership would “at some point make sure we get these bills to the floor in an organized fashion.”
But on a path to citizenship, he said, “It’s too early to predict what we will or won’t do.”
Aside from the Cantor-Goodlatte bill in the works, none of the committee measures deal with how to handle the illegal immigrants now in the country.
Boehner on Wednesday also offered some encouragement to business groups and members of the Senate “Gang of Eight” who are trying to persuade House Republicans to support comprehensive immigration reform.
“The more education we have for our members, the better we’re going to be able to facilitate dealing with a very thorny issue,” Boehner said. He noted, as he has before, that more than two-thirds of House members have not dealt with immigration reform before, because they arrived after the last major push in 2007.
Mike Lillis contributed to this story.
This story was updated at 4:50 p.m.
The democrats will merge this BS from the House with their Amnesty bill.
That commie 'RAT line is getting old and tiresome.
When are you gonna consider what 'basic fairness' means to this country's taxpayers, Mr Speaker?
When are you gonna even consider what WE want?
You gutless politicians make me sick.
Told ya he was going to sell us out
....And their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins....
He really thinks we’re stupid.
Wonderful.
And the children of bank robbers and Wall Street con men should be able to keep the money. After all, they did not steal it and now that they are used to the good life, it would be a shame to take the money away from them.
And if we sent them back with their parents, they would be back in their culture...
Only chance to stop the Amnesty bill is for the House not to consider any immigration related bill at all.
Michelle Bachman explained it. ANY House bill no matter if it promises all the border security in the world will be a trojan horse.NO bill at all must come out of the House because it will be merged with the Senate Amnesty and trojan horse bill. Call congress.
Tell them to stop all Amnesty or immigration bills.they are all trojan horse bills. some will promise border security that will never be enforced anyway.
Bachmann explained it . The House will write a border security bill only . then in conference the senate will add the virus and then bring it back to the house. then the conservatives won’t vote for it but democrats will all vote for it so then they only need 10% of republicans to pass Amnesty and the virus that will destroy America. so any bill at all will be added the virus . so best thing is for Boner to not let any immigration bill at all come out of the House. that is the only hope . call boner and the members of the House.
Tom Tancredo echos what Michelle Bachmann said.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3036438/posts
call congress . no bill at all from the House
and of course boner must not bring the Senate bill for the House to vote on. no senate bill, no border security bill from the House .nothing.
Nope. I don’t trust politicians, give them an inch and they take a mile. They can have lobbyists money or they can have my vote. No.
How does it make any sense? A family brings a little kid here. If they leave they would take the child with them.
You make the child a citizen, obviously they will never leave. This is all insanity disguised as compassion.
Why do we want to make the little children of illegals citizens???
The house must refuse to do anything but secure the border. Only after its verifiable that its secure for no less than 5 years we can talk about reform.
Hey - have some compassion. You don’t want to break up the family DEPORT THEM WITH THEIR PARENTS.
And where’s the fence?
There is supposed to be a fence. Where is it? Where’s the fence Johnny?
Enforce existing law.
Get rid of this Boehner as$hole.
If you sneak into Mexico, they will throw you out, and your child will return here with you. Duh. This is all total BS.
Why would you make a child a citizen???
Thanks Rubio, for getting us to the point where the DREAM Act is now the “compromise” between doing nothing and full on amnesty.
Ir;s just lesser evil. The dems are worse. Keep voting for more of it folks. Thats what FR’s liberal wing tells us isn’t it?
Perhaps they should have THEIR feet held to the fire.
The GOP should vote against the bill. There should be an amendment that any illegal alien activist who marches on Kobach’s house gets deported. All the illegals who invade Boehner’s office when he doesnt introduce the bill immediately should be deported.
The illegals at best should only protest in the street.
I’ll never vote for RINObio, Kristie, or Jeb. I don’t care what the party apparatchiks say. At least we’ll know where Hitlery stands, any of those 3 could (and would) backstab us at any moment.
Let me guess, the Sins of the Father, right?
Can't deport anyone to their Country of Birth because as soon as they leave there to come here their Country changes into Auschwitz.
10: FJB
20: Go to 10
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