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Dems to make last-ditch, lame-duck push for DACA amnesty before GOP takes control of House

November 20, 2022 | | Print Article

With the clock ticking on the left’s control of the House of Representatives, Democrats are devoting at least part of the lame duck session to pushing through some sort of amnesty for the millions of illegal immigrants who have stormed across our open border with Mexico since Joe Biden ascended to the White House.

At a press conference on Wednesday, activists joined U.S. Senators in to call on members of the GOP to work together and pass a version of the DREAM Act that would create a path to citizenship for DACA program recipients and eligible applicants.


(Video: YouTube)

Known officially as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, DACA was the brainchild of former President Barack Obama, who, in 2012, offered those who came across the border as children freedom from the fear of being deported.

Of course, as BizPac Review previously reported, the program was, from its inception, illegal.

 

In July 2021, federal Judge Andrew Hanen of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas ruled that President Biden’s administration may no longer approve new applications for the DACA program, stating that the Department of Homeland Security violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) in creating it.

“Congress has not granted the Executive Branch free rein to grant lawful presence outside the ambit of the statutory scheme,” Hanen stated.

“DACA would grant lawful presence and work authorization to over a million people for whom Congress had made no provision and has consistently refused to make such a provision,” he continued. “Furthermore, the government has no legitimate interest in the continuation of an illegally implemented program.”

In October, a three-judge court panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed that decision.

“While it does not affect the approximately 700,000 already enrolled, the ruling fueled new pushes for a permanent ‘fix,'” reports Fox News Digital. “However, the DREAM Act would go beyond that 700,000 with advocates estimating it could give a pathway to citizenship for approximately two million.”

According to Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the DREAM Act must take center stage after the Thanksgiving break.

“We know that it’s important in December, that we pass the DREAM Act — December of this year when we return from Thanksgiving — because if the House moves, as we think it might politically, it becomes increasingly difficult after the first of the year to take up this issue,” he stated. “We need to do it now and to do it we need bipartisan support in the Senate.”

While Durbin noted that four of five Republicans were already on board with the plan, Democrats need “10 Republicans who will step up and join us in this effort” to break a filibuster.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), however, was looking beyond the lame duck session to the next Senate, and, in a statement that shocked Americans and vindicated so-called “conspiracy theorists,” revealed the party’s true long-term immigration goal.

“We have a population that is not reproducing on its own with the same level that it used to,” he said. “The only way we’re going to have a great future in America is if we welcome and embrace immigrants, the dreamers and all of them, because our ultimate goal is to help the dreamers, but get a path to citizenship for all 11 million or however many undocumented there are here.”

“And we will be pursuing that in the next Senate,” he vowed, adding, “Right now, our focus is on dreamers.”

The press conference was held as “hundreds of advocates and DACA recipients from around the country flew to Washington, D.C., to meet with over 100 members of Congress” in support of the legislation, according to a press release from FWD.us, an advocacy group founded by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

“That comes after a coalition of business leaders from firms like Apple, Amazon, Target, Meta, Starbucks and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce urged congressional leaders last month to ‘swiftly pass legislation’ on the issue,” Fox News Digital reports.

Meanwhile, amid the more than 230,000 migrant encounters in October alone, House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) continues to promise conservatives there will be “no amnesty” when Republicans take over the House.

Republican Study Committee Chair Jim Banks (Ind.) agrees, telling Fox News Digital that his party must “do everything we can” to block the passage of amnesty in any form.

“Democrats were afraid to push amnesty ahead of the midterms because it’s wildly unpopular,” he stated following the press conference. “But they calculated that amnesty will be old news by 2024, and they’re counting on the millions of new voters to return their favor.”

Melissa Fine
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