Vanessa Cárdenas: “To the extent that this is a policy discussion at all, the immigration policies they propose are a perfect encapsulation of the GOP’s ongoing descent into extremism”
Washington, DC – House Republicans are proposing incorporating key elements of the border and immigration policy package known as HR2 – or the “Child Deportation Act” – into a larger legislative package designed to placate the extremists in the Republican conference ahead of the likely shutdown of the federal government. While dissenting GOP voices are already casting doubt about the way forward legislatively – and the prospects of Senate approval are virtually non-existent, the underlying immigration and border components are a revealing and disturbing snapshot of Republicans’ immigration priorities in 2023. Cruel, unworkable, and extreme.
The legislation is an amalgam of proposals to end the U.S. commitment to providing political asylum to those fleeing persecution and would make many aspects of our immigration system much worse, not better. In addition to gutting asylum, the bill would increase child and family detention exponentially at the border and in the interior, deport unaccompanied minors, round up and jail immigrants in the interior in new and aggressive ways and destroy legal pathways, including parole programs and the use of the CBP One app that have helped alleviate pressures at the border.
The centerpiece of the legislative package is building more of Donald Trump’s $15 billion border wall, which can be cut through with a $15 hand saw and which remains the perfect encapsulation of Trump and the MAGA-fied GOP – wasteful, racist, corrupt, symbolic and not interested in real solutions.
According to Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice:
“Republicans’ latest play to position themselves for a government shutdown reveals their immigration and border vision. They are not interested in charting a course to keep the government open, delivering key services to constituents, nor carrying out key functions like drug interdiction or disaster preparedness. To the extent that this is a policy discussion at all, the immigration policies they propose are a perfect encapsulation of the GOP’s ongoing descent into extremism – it’s a grab bag of cruel, unworkable, and extreme policies at odds with the national interest and more about political attack ads and MAGA fundraising than attempts at real and workable solutions.
We should all stand up against this latest version of cruel, unworkable, and extreme policy. Democrats should make it clear that their Republican colleagues are not interested in solutions, only in fear mongering and demagoguery.”
Additional Resources
- See here for immigration policy expert Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the American Immigration Council’s assessment on the latest immigration provisions being proposed by House Republicans.
