Washington, DC – A contingent of House Republican hardliners are proudly proclaiming their relentless preference for failed policies, self-owning politics and anti-immigrant political stunts instead of real solutions. Yesterday, they released a border security blueprint that is a warmed over version of the failed Trump/Stephen Miller deterrence policies. They are absurdly looking back at the chaos, cruelty, corruption and mismanagement of the border under Trump and Miller as somehow a success to be heralded.
Roll Call reports on a press conference yesterday led by Texas House Republican delegation that unveiled a legislative framework that is a 13-page paean to Trump and Miller’s proven failures, including the $15 billion border wall that can be cut through with a $15 dollar hand saw (see more here on how Trump and Miller’s real record of failures):
“At a news conference outside the Capitol, members of the Texas delegation previewed a 13-page legislative framework that aims to combat the historically high migration straining government resources at the U.S.-Mexico border.
…The proposal outlines several border security initiatives, including completing construction of the physical border barriers that the Biden administration paused. The plan also would require the Department of Homeland Security to detain or turn away migrants who arrive at the border, including through programs such as the Trump-era Migrant Protection Protocols, which directed migrants to remain in Mexico while their immigration claims were processed.
…The proposal seeks to defund nonprofit groups ‘actively encouraging the violation of our border security’ by aiding migrants in the region, and to toughen asylum standards ‘to those with actual fear of persecution.’
Republicans also would bolster interior enforcement of immigration laws, end Alternatives to Detention programs, and designate cartels as terrorist or terrorist-equivalent organizations.
…House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., already has vowed to investigate Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for impeachable offenses if he does not resign.”
Meanwhile, Politico reports that despite the GOP obsession with tough talk and cosplay symbolism around the border, they appear disinterested in doing the actual hard work of governance: “The House GOP is still searching for a senior lawmaker willing to head the politically combustible panel that oversees funding for the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies for the next Congress, according to multiple people familiar with the discussions.”
According to Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice:
“After the chaos, cruelty, and failure of the Trump era and successive elections in which the majority of Americans recoiled against GOP extremism, including on immigration, Republicans’ solution seems to be ‘double down on more of the same.’ All that’s missing from the new House GOP framework seems to be a commitment to proudly reinstate family separation, because the rest of their approach is similarly pulled from the past failed playbook.
The public wants forward looking solutions on immigration that are consistent with our values as Americans, not nostalgic appeals to the dangers and failures of the Donald Trump and Stephen Miller era and a relentless barrage of political stunts and press conferences instead of policy solutions that can solve problems and deliver on points of American consensus. House Republicans are proudly proclaiming themselves as obstacles to reforms that can help our economy and give us greater control over who is coming and how. This is a clear reminder to Members of Congress who are interested in legislating in the best interest of our nation that the time to act is now.”
