Congressman Raul Grijalva responds to the statement of immigration principles that House Republicans are now hammering out:
Like many of my colleagues, I’m encouraged to see forward progress on immigration reform, but this document raises more questions than it answers and I wouldn’t be representing my constituents effectively if I didn’t say so.
The entire country knows an enforcement-only strategy is doomed to failure. Unfortunately, this document emphasizes the same failed crackdown efforts that have torn families apart and brought us no closer to a solution. Immigration reform proponents already believe the Senate bill’s additional $43 billion in unnecessary border militarization spending is too much. Republicans seem to believe it’s not nearly enough. The public has a right to know where this money is coming from, how it’s going to be spent, and how it advances the interests of border communities sick and tired of drones, wire fences and a siege mentality.
We’ve been waiting two and a half years for something as simple as a set of principles, so I’m obliged to ask—what is the followup? What is the Republican end game? They have rejected any notion of a conference on S.744. We’re left to wonder—what kind of bill do they want? Will it includes all or parts of the divisive, politicized SAFE Act? What will these principles lead to?
Before we can have a more meaningful conversation, Republicans need to answer several other fundamental questions. How is the end goal of citizenship involved in the ‘legal status’ they intend to create? Is citizenship prohibited for certain groups of people? Who? Who will be affected by the concrete proposal that hopefully comes next? How will the parents or siblings of DREAM Act-eligible youth be treated? What will Republicans do to keep those families together?
The country long ago moved on from starting points and first principles. The public demand for immigration reform is undeniable. House Republicans have dragged their feet as long as possible in an attempt to please their base. That strategy is no longer viable, and I’m glad to see they’ve moved on. The next step they take will tell us more than this page of principles ever could.
This article appears in Jan 30 – Feb 5, 2014.
The real reason for not approving an immigrant bill is there is none. It is all about Obama. They don’t want Obama to get any bills passed. So they are destroying the nation and people. Republicans need to be defeated, but it is difficult to get the aged and hard core to change.
How exactly are you seriously comparing handing illegal aliens amnesty, with sky-high long-term U6 unemployment numbers and an anemic labor force in our country, with many LEGAL IMMIGRANTS, Hispanic or otherwise waiting far too long to become citizens, to “destroying the nation and people”? And adding more unskilled labor into a market where so many have literally already given up on looking for work solves precisely what?
Destroying a nation? In the slavery, post-emancipation, and civil rights era, it has been the left on the wrong side of history. So on the contrary, the divisiveness and stupid, unsustainable policies of the left have been doing exactly this for centuries.
The aged and hard-core? How about the naive and ignorant on the left? Please do yourself a favor and pick up a history book.
And while you’re at it, look up Simpson Mazzoli. We’ve gone down the amnesty road without subsequent enforcement before, UNDER A REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT, and this is exactly what Democrats want yet again.
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” -Albert Einstein
Chris, exactly. It’s designed to keep wages low for big business.