As Republicans push President Biden on the border enforcement crisis amid a surge of migrants and unaccompanied minors, some GOP lawmakers are talking up “compassionate” policy solutions that can win Democratic support.
Florida Republican Rep. Maria Salazar is leading a push for what she calls the “dignity” immigration plan.
“No party holds a monopoly on compassion,” Salazar said in a press conference on Wednesday. “We Republicans, we’re compassionate, too, and we want to give dignity to those who have lived here among us for years and to those who want to come into this country, but they have to follow the law.”
The pillars of Salazar’s plan include protecting the border “with the best technology available,” giving permanent protection to recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, reforming asylum laws so only those who “truly, truly” need it are granted asylum, and providing a 10-year path “redemption” for some illegal immigrants in the United States, such as allowing those with children who have paid taxes and not committed crimes to “get right to the law and join the same line as everyone else.”
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Salazar criticized Democrats for backing Biden’s plan for amnesty for 11 million illegal immigrants that “they know will never become law” and called on specific Democratic representatives, all of whom are Hispanic or Latino, to join her plan: California Reps. Lou Correa, Pete Aguilar, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Jim Costa, Raul Ruiz, and Juan Vargas; Texas Reps. Sylvia Garcia, Veronica Escobar, Filemon Vela, and Henry Cuellar; and Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona.
“As Hispanics, we don’t want any more false promises, false hopes,” Salazar said. “We’re not pawns. We’re people.”
It is a difference in tone and strategy from much of her party as Republicans hammer the Biden administration on the border surge and his refusal to call the situation a “crisis.” Various House Republicans have, in total, held four press conferences on immigration issues in the last eight days, plus more than a dozen members led by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy took a trip to the U.S.-Mexico border on Monday. The messages have not heavily focused on areas of potential compromise, such as protection for Dreamers.
Salazar, a freshman member from Miami, is making a mark in her first term by going against the grain of the party’s conservative base on immigration issues. She challenged former Trump White House aide Stephen Miller on his hard-line immigration messaging when he spoke at a Republican Study Committee event last month. “I told him that the GOP needs to attract the browns,” Salazar said at the time.
She already has a high-profile endorsement of her plan: South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of the Republican architects of the 2013 “Gang of Eight” bipartisan comprehensive immigration proposal that never made it through Congress following conservative criticism over its amnesty provisions.
“The goals are the same, right? To not have 11 million illegal immigrants, to secure the border, deal with the visa overstays, replace a chain migration immigration system with a merit-based immigration system,” Graham said. “The problem is, we find ourselves in a situation where there is no way forward until you control the border. The Biden administration changed Trump policies, not thinking it through.”
Republican Reps. Dan Newhouse of Washington, Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida, Burgess Owens of Utah, Fred Upton of Michigan, and David Valadao of California also joined Salazar’s press conference.
But Salazar faces a challenge not only in appealing to her own party, but in getting support from Democrats. With narrow majorities in both chambers of Congress, Democrats are showing little appetite for working with Republicans, instead pushing through their priorities.
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House Democrats this week will push forward two immigration bills: The Dream and Promise Act, which would provide a pathway to permanent status and eventually citizenship for about 2.5 million immigrants, including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients, those with temporary protected status, and those with deferred enforcement departure status, and the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which would create new temporary work visas for agricultural workers and their families while also providing a path to a green card for those workers and implementing mandatory use of the E-Verify system for agricultural employers.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said Congress will be moving on Biden’s immigration plan that creates a pathway to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants “over the next few months.”
