The following is a statement from Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice, regarding today’s Senate votes on immigration:
Today, the Senate reached for a bipartisan deal, and President Trump made sure it did not happen.
The man who promised to take a deal and take the heat made sure that he blocked a bipartisan solution for Dreamers. Today, while some brave Republicans stood up and were counted, most Republican members of the Senate obeyed their President rather than rising to the occasion.
It is a sad day when the Senate is unable to cobble together 60 votes for the bipartisan Dream Act, a measure supported by over 8 out of 10 Americans. It is noteworthy that the only vote to reach a supermajority of 60 votes was the resounding defeat of Trump’s racist and radical immigration plan.
President Trump created this crisis when he ended DACA. He has turned down five serious bipartisan solutions over the past six months. He’s the only one who can get Republicans in Congress to act, but his current approach – ‘my way or the highway’ – was rejected today. If we are to have a legislative solution, it will be because he has a change of heart and a change of direction.
To Dreamers, keep the faith. Your country is behind you, even if the White House is not. We will find a way, even if we have to lean more heavily on the courts, state and local governments, community actors and employers. You are home, and we will do everything we can to make sure you stay where you belong.
America is better than this, even if President Trump isn’t.
Justice will prevail. The alternative is unthinkable.
