As they were scuttling action on immigration by the President “by the end of summer,” Senators like Mark Pryor (D-AR), Kay Hagan (D-NC), Angus King (I-ME) and others said reform should be worked out in Congress. Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) picked up the mantle, asserting that the House of Representatives could pass an immigration reform bill “next year.” Reporters sometimes ask, “so, is there a chance that reform could happen in the next Congress?”
Here’s your answer. Today, Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX), Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and other Republicans from the House and Senate held a press conference calling for the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. That’s right. They want to subject DREAMers to deportation. Ted Cruz called a program that has helped almost 600,000 DREAMers who are American in all but paperwork “lawless” and “wrong.” This from a guy who is likely to run for President and pull the rest of the field in his direction.
According to Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice:
The idea that a Republican Party – a party that keeps lurching to the right on immigration, that has blocked the best chance in decades to achieve immigration reform, that wants to deport Central American kids without fair hearings, and wants to subject Dreamers to deportation – is going to pass immigration reform next Congress borders on the delusional. Speaker Boehner may want to placate business and evangelicals who want reform, and may want to keep them from supporting an executive action, but the fact is that the only way we’re going to see immigration reform enacted in Congress is when we elect a pro-reform House. In the meantime, it’s up to President Obama and fellow Democrats to stop caving into exaggerated fears and use every ounce of executive authority to protect as many immigrants as possible.
