Democrats hold DHS hostage; Demand Ransom of Work Permits for Illegal Aliens
Article subtitle:
DHS fund extended for one week
Article publisher:
NumbersUSA
Article date:
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Article category:
National Issues
Article link:
Medium
Article Body:
Thus far, every single Democrat in the Senate and nearly all in the House are taking the position that they will not allow funding for the Department of Homeland Security unless their Republican colleagues pay a ransom in the form of millions of work permits for illegal aliens.
The headlines should read: "Democrats hold DHS hostage and demand ransom of work permits for illegal aliens."
But you are unlikely to read that characterization in any of the mainstream news media which have substantially described the funding standoff as being about deportations. Reading most news media, one would guess that the Republicans are demanding that millions of illegal aliens be deported sometime this year, and that the Democrats are refusing to allow that to happen.
But Pres. Obama made it clear in his town hall in Miami this week that deportations are not at stake at all.
Any characterization of Pres. Obama's executive immigration action as being about shielding illegal aliens from deportation is a straw man.
The Obama administration years ago halted nearly all deportations from the interior of illegal aliens who weren't convicted criminals.
And this week, the President repeated what he has said for months that, regardless of any court ruling or action by Congress, he will not allow his immigration enforcement officials to deport most illegal immigrants they encounter. In fact, he said he would punish any federal officials who initiated a deportation process.
Nothing has been proposed in the DHS funding legislation that would force Pres. Obama to resume deportations from the interior.
The legislative language that offends the unanimous Democrats is not about deportations but about denying work permits to huge classes of illegal aliens.
The united congressional Democratic front is about ensuring that some 5 million unlawfully present foreign workers get an equal shot with struggling Americans at every new job that opens up.
To this moment on Friday evening, the Democrats are all taking a stand that there will be no funding for DHS unless the new jobs are opened up for illegal aliens.
That is the impasse.
The Senate Republican leadership and about a third of the Republican Senators today decided to pay the ransom to illegal aliens. But it is unclear whether House Republicans will go along with it or continue to insist that new U.S. job openings be reserved for U.S. citizens and for legal immigrants already here.
The fate of millions of American workers hangs in the balance.
-- ROY BECK is President & Founder of NumbersUSA
NumbersUSA's blogs are copyrighted and may be republished or reposted only if they are copied in their entirety, including this paragraph, and provide proper credit to NumbersUSA. NumbersUSA bears no responsibility for where our blogs may be republished or reposted.
Article final link:
