Still No Fix, with March 5 Looming

Tomorrow, I will get back to posting about gun violence, but I need to address another important thing that happened this week.

Some of you may have read that I put forth that Congress should pass one of the bipartisan immigration bills in the works that would grant legal status to DACA recipients, forcing the President to veto or sign it in a blog post last week.

Well, they didn’t.

On Thursday, the Senate rejected multiple bills that would have protected the DACA recipients. The one that got the most votes, a bipartisan bill that would have provided legal status and a path to citizenship for DACA recipients, got 54 votes in favor, but it needed 60 in order to pass. The White House actively campaigned against this bill, saying that it didn’t do enough to bolster border security or limit legal immigration. This is despite the fact that it committed $25 billion to strengthen border security over the next ten years and would have put restrictions on family reunification immigration, preventing DACA recipients from sponsoring their parents for citizenship.

The bipartisan bill I mentioned in my previous post, the one put forward by Senators McCain and Coons, only obtained 52 votes. It was a slimmer bill, focusing solely on border security and legalization for DACA recipients, without touching on broader immigration policy. The White House also campaigned against this bill.

Another bill, one backed by the White House, also would have provided legalization and a path to citizenship for DACA recipients. but it would have allocated $25 billion to border security immediately in order to fund the border wall, restricted family reunification immigration, reduced total legal immigration, and eliminated the diversity visa lottery program, as well. That bill only got 39 votes in favor, with 14 Republican Senators voting against it, despite the White House’s endorsement.

Now, some Senators are looking to possibly pass a temporary extension to DACA to give Congress time to find a bill they can pass.

President Trump is blaming Democrats for the failure. He says that, if they were serious about helping DACA recipients, they would let him have his funding for his wall and all of the legal immigration restrictions he wants. He says this despite the fact that his administration went to bat against two different bipartisan bills that helped DACA recipients.

It is President Trump who is holding the lives of these people hostage in order to get everything he wants, despite opposition by members of his own party and the majority of the American people.

I’ll say it again: Congress should have passed one of the bipartisan immigration bills and forced the President to either make good on his threat to veto it, or bow to the will of the people and sign it.

But they didn’t. Not that I’m surprised. But time is running out. Something needs to be done. And it is up to us.

Contact your Senators and Representatives. Make sure they pass a temporary extension for DACA so that innocent people don’t get their lives torn apart while a more permanent solution is found. Reach out to your church and talk about the possibility of it providing sanctuary to those who might be deported, like the church in Arizona did. If you know any DACA recipients, show your support encouragement for them. Let them know that you stand with them.

We didn’t take away the President’s cover. So now, let’s provide some for DACA recipients.

Take Away the President’s Cover

At midnight tomorrow, the US government faces another possible shutdown. The House passed another continuing resolution to fund the government through March 23, but it is not likely to pass the Senate, where it will need Democratic votes in addition to Republican ones. Meanwhile, the congressional leadership is frantically trying to cobble together an actual budget. (Nothing like getting multiple extensions on your class project and still waiting until the last minute to get it done, am I right?) Whether they succeed or not is left to be seen. (Here is a piece from Business Insider detailing the current budget situation.)

All that being said, what I want to discuss here is not what a budget should entail or whether or not they will succeed in passing one. Instead, I want to discuss the issue that led to a three-day government shutdown at the end of the last continuing resolution; the same issue that has President Trump saying that he would “love to see a shutdown” this time. That issue is immigration reform.

As I am sure you know, President Trump has set March 5 to be the day that DACA (or, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) expires. When he set this expiration date, it was ostensibly because something like DACA should be legislation, not an executive order. At first, Trump indicated a willingness to work with Congress to get DACA on the books as legislation, but he very quickly added the caveat that any immigration legislation include funding for his wall.

Because of differences between views of what immigration reform should look like, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has thus far blocked any open floor debate on immigration, all while promising the Democrats that it would come. When Senate Democrats saw the March 5 DACA deadline looming, they refused to support yet another continuing resolution without addressing DACA. This led to the short government shutdown last month. On the third day of the shutdown, Democrats agreed to a very short continuing resolution (the one that ends at midnight tomorrow) in exchange for a promise from Mitch McConnell that there would be an open floor debate in the Senate on DACA and immigration. That still hasn’t happened, which is why Senate Democrats are highly unlikely to support the continuing resolution that the House just passed.

Now, there are two immigration policy issues that seem to be sticking points for the politicians in Washington: DACA and the Border Wall. The Democrats want DACA legislation passed before the DACA executive order expires on March 5. Trump wants any immigration legislation to include funding for his Border Wall. At first, it would seem that both the Democrats and Trump are simply digging in on their pet issues, issues that are important to their respective bases. But here is the thing: the American people want a way for DACA recipients to have some sort of legal residency here in the US, provided they meet certain requirements. A CBS News poll last month indicated that 87% of Americans are in favor of allowing DACA recipients to stay in this country. That same poll indicated that only 35% of Americans are in favor of building the wall along the US-Mexican border. So clearly, one of these issues has the backing of the American people, while the other does not.

Currently, there are multiple immigration bills in Congress being considered. Those bills include DACA legislation, as well as include a funding boost for border security for things like drone surveillance of the border. None of them include funding for the wall. Now, maybe these bills could pass Congress, and maybe they couldn’t. There are hardliners on both sides of the aisle who will refuse to support them. But one thing is for sure: there will not be enough votes to override a veto. So, they drag their feet, try to make backroom deals, and still do not open it up for a floor debate.

Here is what I think they should do:

1. Pick one of the immigration bills currently introduced, either the bipartisan McCain-Coons bill in the Senate or the bipartisan House immigration bill introduced by Reps Will Hurd (R-Texas) and Pete Aguilar (D-Calif), along with 52 other co-sponsors, split evenly between Democrats and Republicans.
2. Open it up for floor debate.
3. Retool it as necessary in order to get it to pass.
4. Send it to the President.
5. Make him make the choice.

If President Trump vetoes a DACA bill, especially one that also funds a boost in border security, then he will be actively opposing the vast majority of the American people. He will be opposing the vast majority of the Republican Party. If Congress does not send a DACA bill to the President, then they provide him with cover. Take away his cover. Make him stand alone.