Yesterday’s Senate Judiciary hearing on H.R. 6, the “American Dream and Promise Act of 2021,” underscored the need for America to put millions of Dreamers and TPS holders – and other undocumented immigrants – on pathways to citizenship.
This is what Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), the Republican leader of the bipartisan discussions on immigration reform, had to say about H.R. 6:
Radical policies that reward illegal immigration will not pass the Senate, and it’s unfair for the DACA recipients to tie their fate to such ill-considered legislation.
Radical? Nationwide polling from Data for Progress released just this week finds the following:
That’s right. Republicans favor the bills before Congress by 55% – 36%, and, overall, voters support citizenship bills by 80% – 12%. The Data for Progress polling is consistent with dozens of polls over recent years showing that citizenship bills are overwhelmingly popular with the public, including with majorities of Republicans (see poll roundup here).
According to Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice:
The public has reached a consensus. They believe it’s overdue for their elected leaders to take action and put millions of undocumented immigrants on pathways to citizenship. They believe that America should formally recognize immigrants without papers as the Americans they already are.
Meanwhile, the Republican Party has become increasingly radicalized. They don’t want to address popular policy priorities, they don’t want to support COVID relief, they don’t want to support an investigation into an insurrection against our democracy, and they don’t want fair taxes on corporations and the super-wealthy. They want to take back power, impose their will on the multiracial majority, and pave the way for Trump’s return. They don’t want to help Democrats address our immigration challenges in 2021, they want to run on nativism in 2022 and 2024.
But Americans, including a strong majority of Republican voters, want policy solutions, not political gamesmanship. They are tired of the politics of racial division and anti-immigrant fear mongering. That’s why a record number of voters turned out in 2020 to defeat Trump, the embodiment of GOP radicalism and xenophobia.
It’s time for those in the majority to use every ounce of their power to expand citizenship in a way that advances the American experiment. Blow past the bad faith Republicans. Reject the radicalism of Trump’s party. Go big and deliver for the majority that elected you. This is the year.
- Watch the new America’s Voice video on John Cornyn and the Cornyn Con on immigration: HERE
