Build The Wall, then We’ll Talk Amnesty

To whoops of delight, the House Judiciary Committee voted to advance legislation to provide a pathway to citizenship for illegal aliens who claim to have entered the country before age 18 and allow illegals with protected status to apply for permanent legal status.

Voting along partisan lines after lengthy debate, the committee marked up three bills, HR 2820, the Dream Act of 2019, HR 2821, the American Promise Act of 2019, and HR 549 the Venezuela TPS Act.  According to committee member Democrat Pramila Jayapal of Washington State, both amnesty bills are “the most progressive ever passed in the House.”

HR 2820, The Dream Act of 2019, grants amnesty to more than 3.5 million illegals putting them on a path to citizenship.  With chain migration, we could end up with an additional 14 million immigrants.  The bill would provide conditional legal status and work permits for 10 years to most illegals 18 and over who “claim” to not only have entered the country before reaching 18 years of age but who have been in the country for four years immediately prior to enactment of the bill. 

Once amnesty is granted, they will be given a green card and lifetime work permit after receiving a degree from a US Institution of higher learning or after completing 2 years of a 4 year degree, or after serving 2 to 4 years of military service.   Applicants then must show they have worked 75% of the time for at least 3 years after receiving a work permit to apply for citizenship.

HR 2821, the American Promise Act of 2019, would offer amnesty to another 320,000 to 430,000 illegals already granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS) or Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) due to a crises in their country of origin.  The message this bill sends is that temporary protected status means never having to go home.   

The Dream Act officially excludes gang members but does state that “allegations of gang membership obtained from a State or Federal in-house or local database, or a network of databases used for the purpose of recording and sharing activities of alleged gang members across law enforcement agencies, shall not establish the participation described.”  In other words, any information on these databases can be ignored.

The American Promise Act allows the Department of Homeland Security to waive almost any crime a TPS recipient has committed.  The bill actually states that an illegal could be convicted of any number of misdemeanors and still qualify as long as the crimes were committed on the same day and that includes convictions for human smuggling.  Older convictions can be totally ignored.

The third bill, HR 549, would allow an unknown number of Venezuelan nationals already in the country illegally or those preparing to immigrate to the US to obtain Temporary Protected status so they could legally work without worrying about deportation.

The bills will now advance to the House Rules Committee, which is expected to combine them into one single piece of legislation before presenting them to the full House for a vote.

 Trump has been trying to end Obama’s DACA program since September of 2017 but has been repeatedly blocked by progressive judges from using an executive order to undo Obama’s unlawful executive order creating the program.

Since 2001 numerous amnesty bills have failed to pass Congress even when Democrats were in charge. In 2012 Obama decided to circumvented Congress and used an executive order to institute the DACA program.  Under our Constitution, Congress has plenary authority over immigration meaning that presidents only have the authority delegated to him by Congress and Congress has never given the president power to provide pseudo amnesty and government benefits to illegals.

The unconstitutionality of Obama’s actions were confirmed when he tried to implement a second, similar program in 2014 called the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents program, or DAPA. Like DACA, DAPA provided an administrative amnesty for illegal aliens who came to the U.S. as adults and gave them work authorizations and access to government benefits.

Pelosi may muster enough votes to get these bills through the House but I doubt seriously they will ever make it through the Senate, at least as long as Republicans have the majority. Remember that when the 2020 election rolls around.

Before anyone even contemplates granting amnesty to illegal aliens we need to secure our southern border. The problem isn’t just with illegals sneaking across the border; we are dealing with illicit drugs smuggling, human trafficking, and dangerous cartels exploiting vulnerable women and children.  Build the damn wall and then we’ll talk immigration reform.

Source:  Cheers Erupt As House Judiciary Committee Approves ‘Path to Citizenship’ Bills, CNS News; DACA Is Unconstitutional, as Obama Admitted, The Heritage Foundation

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