Bumped this post as the Senate Republicans are expected to take up this ugly, anti-immigrant bill, sponsored by David Vitter, as early as Tuesday, October 21.
Because Republicans just can’t seem to get enough of immigrant bashing, GOP Senate leaders are bringing yet another anti-immigrant bill to the Senate floor later this month. Seung Min Kim and Burgess Everett have the details:
Senate Republicans are planning a vote on a controversial immigration bill later this month punishing so-called sanctuary cities that give safe harbor to immigrants here illegally — months after authorities say an undocumented immigrant shot and killed a young woman on a San Francisco pier.
The legislation from Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) would target sanctuary cities — localities where local law enforcement officials decline to cooperate with federal immigration authorities — by withholding key federal grants and increasing prison sentences for those who try to re-enter the United States after being deported.
Yes, the Trump Effect is alive and well in the U.S. Senate.
We just see the name “David Vitter” and know it can’t be good. He’s in a tough race for Governor of Louisiana this fall, so his anti-immigrant fervor is in overdrive.
This bill is so punitive that it has even been controversial within the GOP, which is why it won’t go through the Judiciary Committee, but will go right to the Senate floor:
According to Senate aides, Lee and Flake were working on a deal on sanctuary cities legislation that would have applied the mandatory minimum to a smaller population of immigrants. But Cruz and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), both hardliners on immigration, would not agree.
Because it looked unlikely that a bill could pass the Judiciary Committee, some GOP senators privately urged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to bypass the panel and bring a sanctuary cities bill straight to the Senate floor. McConnell got the process going on that earlier Wednesday.
The regular anti-immigrant suspects are all behind this: Sessions, Cruz, Vitter, Grassley, Cornyn – and they’ve got a new ally in their midst – Marco Rubio:
Republican backers of the new bill include Grassley, Cruz, Cornyn, and Sens. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, David Perdue and Johnny Isakson of Georgia, John Barrasso of Wyoming and Marco Rubio of Florida.
Rubio, now vying for the Republican presidential nomination, was an author of the comprehensive immigration reform bill that passed the Senate in 2013 but was never taken up by the House. He has since distanced himself from that effort. Rubio has come under pressure recently from the conservative news outlet Breitbart for not yet sponsoring legislation to crack down on illegal immigration and sanctuary cities.
Rubio is really trying so hard to run from his own record that he’s run right into the arms of the worst anti-immigrant voices in the Senate – and doing the work of Donald Trump.