Votes Needed for Immigration Reform

 

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/04/democrats-house-immigration-plan-473475

'Not quite ready yet': Democrats won’t take up Biden immigration plan this month

A dismal whip count came back this week showing House leaders don’t yet have the votes to pass the bill on the floor.

Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), a swing-district Democrat, has been making the case to Biden’s Hill team that an e-verify provision should be part of the bill, just as it was in the bipartisan immigration bill in 2013 that fell just short of passage.

“Yes, I support what’s in the bill. I think we would be in a stronger position to get it enacted if we eventually ended up where, I think, the middle ground is,” Malinowski said. “I think for both solid political, practical reasons and moral reasons, those two things should go together.”

The biggest fear for many progressives, however, is what could happen to the bill to win over the party’s centrists, either in the House or when the bill crosses over to the Senate.

“We don’t want this bill to be watered down before it gets to the floor, which is sometimes what happens with immigration bills,” Jayapal said.

Immigration advocates have argued that failing to act on the issue could come back to haunt them politically, leaving Democrats vulnerable among their base in 2022.

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During a session at the House Democratic Caucus’s virtual retreat on Wednesday, advocates shared new polling conducted for the immigrant rights groups FWD.us and America’s Voice, which showed that 63 percent of voters would be “upset” if protections for undocumented immigrants didn’t pass. The online survey of 1,200 voters who participated in the 2020 election was conducted Feb. 20-26.

A clean Dream Act proposal received the highest support nationally with 72 percent of voters supporting it compared to 71 percent support for a bill providing citizenship to undocumented farmworkers and 66 percent support for citizenship for undocumented essential workers. The latter is a proposal that has been pushed by Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) alongside Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Alex Padilla (D-Calif.).

“Voters will be upset over inaction, especially the voters Democrats need to show up in the midterm elections,” stated the polling memo shared with House Democrats and obtained by POLITICO. “Republicans will not receive all or even most of the blame should the efforts to pass citizenship bills fail.”

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Oppose the Republican Deportation Bill

Trump's Answer to Separation of Children: Keep the Whole Family in Prolonged Detention On the heels of very bad media days spotlighting the horrendous separation and jailing of migrant children, Donald Trump today signed the Executive Order, "Affording Congress an Opportunity to Address Family Separation". The executive order does not free the children -- instead, it allows for the incarceration of children with their parents, likely for prolonged periods of time. The order may lead to a violation of the Flores case settlement, which limited the length of time for children in detention; Trump wants the Attorney General to seek a "modification" to the Flores settlement, to provide family detention throughout the time of "criminal improper entry or deportation proceedings involving the parents". Because of the case backlogs, these can be very lengthy periods in detention. The order is not retroactive and there are no plans to reunite some 2,300 already separated children with their parents. This crisis continues. The order does not end the "zero tolerance" policy that is driving the criminal prosecution of all border crossers. Nor does it affect the new restrictions on access to asylum or the detention of asylum seekers, in defiance of US and international laws. * * * * *  Demand that ALL children are reunited with their parents! Release the families from detention pending  resolution of their cases!  More to follow on analysis and action behind this executive order,  the continuing criminalization of immigrants, and the horrific, inhumane border policies * * * * *  Oppose Both House Immigration Bills - Act NOW! Voting on the bills may take place today, Thursday, June 21 Trump's executive order comes just before House consideration of two Republican immigration bills. Both bills would dramatically increase funds for punitive and repressive immigration policies, practices and machinery. Neither would end the separation of families at the border, nor provide a clear path to permanent residency for DACA recipients. Both bills have been opposed by a broad cross-section of community, immigrant rights, faith, civil rights and other sectors and organizations. Each bill proposes shallow trade-offs in exchange for more repression of immigrant communities, workers and asylum seekers. They would undermine due process, cause further family separations, heighten fear and uncertainty among immigrants, and drive more wedges among communities--not to mention the outrageous cost of enforcement infrastructure and personnel. Bringing these two bills up for consideration in the House is a shameful act by Republicans to curry favor among their base. Read a summary of the two bills, HR 4760, the "Securing America's Future Act", and HR 6136, the "Border Security and Immigration Reform Act", offered as a "compromise" bill bridging moderate and hard-lined Republicans in the House. Spread the word! Urge your representatives to oppose both bills! Call now! Click here to access contact information for your representative in the House. Here's a simple message to use when you make your call: "Hello. My name is _______. I am calling to urge you oppose both HR 4760 and HR 6136, the immigration bills. These bills hold immigrant children and youth hostage to increased immigration enforcement, a costly  border wall, and severe cuts to our family immigration program. Thank you.   Update - Monster Bill #1  Dies.   193 Republicans Vote for Monster Bill ! The conservative bill, authored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), mustered just 193 votes. All Democrats and dozens of Republicans rejected it because of its onerous limits on allowing undocumented immigrants brought here as children to stay in the country. The other, slightly less conservative version appears destined to a similar fate, with dozens of hardline conservatives and a handful of GOP moderates saying they’ll vote against the bill and promising its failure. But House GOP leaders moved to forestall that result, scuttling a planned Thursday afternoon vote as they cast about for another path forward.

Senate Passes Deeply Flawed Immigration Bill

Senate Immigration Passes 'Border Surge' Amendment -- Escalation of Bad and Dangerous Policy We are alarmed by the punitive, flawed and dangerous path that has been deepened in Senate Bill S. 744 in order to secure Republican support. The final vote may come tomorrow. The inclusion of the Corker-Hoeven "border surge" amendment, added in a deal catering to anti-immigrant diehards in the Senate and likely fueling billions to contracts with Halliburton and other corporate interests, would undeniably cement the militarization of the US-Mexico border. Some key elements of the costly amendment: doubles the number of Border Patrol agents to almost 40,000 over the next 10 years, adding an additional $30 billion for this purpose adds 700 milies of pedestrian fencing along the US-Mexico border ($8 billion) would deploy 160 unmanned aircraft systems ($140 million for Blackhawk helicopters for the Border Patrol's Air and Marine divisions) would set up a program to recruit former armed services personnel to serve in the Border Patrol and in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In all, the amendment increases initial funding to some $46.3 billion dollars for border enforcement.This is a massive public investment in greater surveillance and data collection and data mining that goes well beyond the border.  The amendment touches on other elements of the bill as well: removal proceedings would be expedited against at least 90% of visa overstays. It would also prevent immigrants from accessing the Social Security credits they have already paid into the system. This, on top of so many other problems (more criminalization of immigrants, E-verify, shift from family immigration, guestworkers, etc.) with this whopping piece of legislation. (Read this analysis of the legalization provision by Peter Schey of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, to get a better sense of some of the flaws--and how it could have been improved.)