For Immediate Release – June 13, 2018
Contact Erin Williams – ewilliams@faithinaction.org
202-748-0699
GOP-Led House Advances Another Cruel Hoax Against Immigrants and Dreamers
Faith In Action and LA RED Immigrant Justice Campaign Condemn Latest Anti-Immigrant Assault
WASHINGTON, DC — In a fake attempt by conservative House leaders to provide election year protection to their rank-and-file members, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-WI, plans House votes next week on two immigration bills, including one, still being negotiated, which may defer deportation for almost 700,000 Dreamers, but at the expense of their family members and others who will face stronger immigration enforcement and deportation measures.
The second bill to be considered, sponsored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Robert Goodlatte, R-VA, is a horrific anti-immigrant, anti-family proposal that would not allow Dreamers to earn citizenship, but would offer visas taken from the pool of visas available for family members. The bill also would boost spending on border militarization and increased interior enforcement, and feed the nativist demands for cuts in legal immigration and available visas.
“Neither of these bills provides a viable solution for Dreamers. Instead of resolving the crisis that President Trump created when he set out to undo the DACA program, House leaders are banking on the public to be fooled. But this is an engaño — a cruel trick — and we will not be fooled. Shame on them,” said Richard Morales, Director of LA RED.
“The House’s failure to bring justice to Dreamers is inhumane but not surprising,” Morales said. “This is the same failed leadership that has endorsed the Trump regime’s barbarous agenda against immigrants. Only in the era of Trump can conservative politicians strip rights away from young Dreamers, pull children from the arms of their mothers and fathers at the border, viciously fuel the federal government’s deportation machine, and remove asylum protection from those fleeing murderous gangs and domestic violence, and feel no shame.
“We can only hope that voters will vote out in November members of Congress who practice the politics of hate and stand against our communities,” Morales added.
The proposal to scheduled House votes on two measures next week emerged after Ryan and conservatives stamped out a “discharge petition” pushed by moderate Republicans — some facing tough election challenges — and Democrats, that would have forced votes on four proposals, including a clean DREAM Act with a path to citizenship for the Dreamers. With all 193 Democrats signing the bipartisan-sponsored petition, the effort fell short two Republican signatures needed to meet the 218 count to circumvent the leadership’s opposition to the clean DREAM Act.
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Faith in Action, formerly known as PICO National Network, is the largest grassroots, faith-based organizing network in the United States. The nonpartisan organization works with 1,000 religious congregations in more than 200 cities and towns through its 45 local and state federations. For more information visit www.faithinaction.org.
Created in 2015, LA RED is a program of Faith in Action focused on immigrant rights, indigenous rights, education, and advocacy. LA RED is committed to the protection and security of immigrant communities through various means of resistance, including deportation defense, sanctuary advocacy and fighting for the rights of all immigrants including undocumented workers and families, DREAMers, and TPS holders.
