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Frank Sharry on White House Immigration Meeting: When are Republicans Going to Get Serious and Sit Down with Democrats?

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“Partisan meetings, bluster about poison pills and delay tactics will not get it done”

The following is a statement from Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice Education Fund, regarding today’s scheduled meeting between President Trump and Senate Republicans about immigration, with a particular focus on resolving the crisis created by President Trump’s decision to end DACA.

Today Senate Republicans are going to the White House to talk about Dreamers and related issues. They should be sitting down with Senate Democrats to negotiate a bill that can be attached to a must-pass spending bill in the coming days and weeks.

Instead of coming together on a bipartisan basis to resolve this crisis, Republicans seem more interested in delaying action, staging partisan meetings and making demands that have nothing to do with achieving a result. The President seems more interested in waging culture wars than passing legislation.

We all know how this needs to proceed. Congressional Republicans need to sit down with Congressional Democrats to agree to a deal anchored in the Dream Act. It’s clear that Republicans cannot and will not deal with this on their own. Democrats stand ready to enact the Dream Act immediately. Majorities in both chambers of Congress exist today. The only way to get this done is to include a Dream Act measure as part of a must-pass spending bill. Given that there are multiple opportunities this year to do just that, and the reality that Dreamers are facing loss of status before March of next year – 22,000 DACA beneficiaries missed the unfair and arbitrary deadline of October 5th – it is imperative that Congress resolve this crisis before they go home for the holidays.

Protecting Dreamers is a non-controversial issue with overwhelming bipartisan, public, and legislative support. Legislative action is needed now. Partisan meetings, bluster about poison pills and delay tactics will not get it done. We call on Republicans to get serious and sit down with Democrats to resolve this crisis now, and certainly no later than the end of the year.