House Republicans are poised to ONCE AGAIN vote to end DACA and deport DREAMers. Below are some of the statements being released:
United We Dream’s Lorella Praeli:
Apparently, exploiting the child refugee issue by blaming DACA and Dreamers and trying to intimidate President Obama from taking further executive action on behalf of our families did not go far enough for the GOP. Today, they went a step further by denying current DACA recipients the ability to renew and subjecting Dreamers to deportation, once again.
Having blocked historic immigration reform and now voting multiple times to deport Dreamers and deny basic protections to our LGBTQ brothers and sisters and battered immigrant women, it’s clear now more than ever, that the GOP’s preferred policy response when it comes to immigration is to deport as many immigrants as possible and do it as quickly as possible. Their actions over the past week not only confirm their party’s pro-deportation stance, they further solidify the GOP’s dysfunction and inability to govern responsibly.
Now, with obstruction ruling Congress, Dreamers and the American people are looking for the President to step up and lead. It’s time for the President to take action on behalf of both the refugee children at the border as well our families who he’s already promised to protect through executive order. The President deserves credit for not being bullied by Republican threats against DACA and for pledging to take executive action. But now he needs to deliver. That’s why we are calling on him to build on the success of DACA and to deliver relief for parents of Dreamers, US citizens and others, while making long overdue reforms to deportation enforcement.
The time for executive action has never been more evident or more urgent, and Dreamers and their families are counting on the President to lead.
From White House Press Secretary:
The legislation put forward tonight by House Republicans does not responsibly address the problem of unaccompanied children apprehended at the border, and could result in the deportation of hundreds of thousands of DREAMers, young people who were brought to this country as children and are Americans in every way but on paper. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program prioritizes the limited resources of the Department of Homeland Security to deport dangerous criminals rather than DREAMers. It is extraordinary that House Republicans are demanding that we reverse that prioritization as a price for getting the resources needed to deal with the urgent humanitarian situation at the border, reduce the immigration court backlog, and address the root cause of child migration.
Republicans in Washington have repeatedly called the situation at our border a crisis; yet, tonight they are considering partisan legislation that will not address the problem and is sure to be rejected by the Senate. As the President said today, the Administration will continue to manage the border as responsibly as possible and address our broken immigration system, but no Administrative action is a substitute for Congressional action. That’s why the President will urge Congress to fix our broken immigration system once and for all upon returning from their recess by doing what the Senate did over a year ago and pass serious, comprehensive immigration reform legislation with bipartisan support.
From Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL): “Only cowards scapegoat children and only those who are ashamed of themselves do it after hours on a Friday night.”
How did we get here? In the dark of night Republicans are voting to deport DREAMers, take away the DACA program, and make every undocumented immigrant deportable.
In 2012 the Republicans were shellacked and they spoke of turning over a new leaf with younger voters, with Asian voters, with women and Latinos.
A year ago I was working with Congressman Sam Johnson and Judge Carter of Texas. I did town halls and public appearances with Judge Carter and with Congressman Valadao. I worked with Mike Coffman of Denver and stood up with Aaron Schock and Adam Kinsinger in my own state of Illinois.
But now Steve King, Michele Bachmann and Ted Cruz are literally writing the immigration script for the Republican Party. A script filled with ugly and mean policies to demonize children and marginalize immigrants and destroy families.
In January you were saying that all of the DREAMers should get green cards and citizenship.
We always understood you wanted to deport their parents.
But now, late on a Friday night you are going after the DREAMers who have known no other country. Who risked their identities and their families to come forward and sign up with the Department of Homeland Security and passed FBI background checks.
The United States said come forward and get right with the law and now Republicans are saying they should go back in the shadows and back to a life of fear where opportunities are few and futures are uncertain.
The voters had a referendum on this program back in 2012 and the winner was President Obama, the DREAMers, and the American people.
But now you want to take that all away. Thank God the Senate is gone, the President has called this veto-bait, and this will never become law.
Is there no one in your conference who can stand up and talk sensibly when others in your party want to demonize children at the border and deport the DREAMers?
You are so frozen in fear of your own voters – so frozen in fear of your own colleagues – and the nation needs you to be courageous.
Only cowards scapegoat children and only those who are ashamed of themselves do it after hours on a Friday night.
You are apparently not strong enough to stand up and craft real solutions to American problems.
But here is the truth revealed about the Republican Party in the last few weeks and why all of the talk this year about immigration reform was just talk.
In the end, the Republican position on immigration can be summed up as “deport ‘em all.”
When push comes to shove, your party is standing by the simplistic desire to deport ‘em all.
Most of you know that the approach of deport ‘em all is nonsense as an immigration policy, as a security policy, and as an economic policy.
And you know it is suicide as a political strategy.
But there are dozens and dozens of good, decent, charitable Republicans who know we must do something to fix our immigration system – But you stand with the ones who shout and scream the loudest and are saying deport ‘em all.
It is not too late. Don’t succumb to fear. For those Republicans with a conscience and who are brave enough to stand by DREAMers like you did just six months ago.
Please vote “no” with me on this bill. All you need is a little courage.
