309 replies to this topic

[Traveler]

This needs a little comprehensive thinking. For starters, refugees cost <0.5% of the budget. A rounding error for the Pentagon. Secondly, we need the labor, period. Thirdly, we are below demographic replacement. So a targeted immigration approach that recognizes those who have already demonstrated their suitability for being US citizens deserve to move up the line. Dreamers first, and long term residents next.

That said, this is not nearly as important as infrastructure and the JLVRA. I know Biden is rolling out his immigration plan now, but I sure hope he doesn't intend to stake his flag on that hill now.

[LFC]

The Democrats are taking a swing at immigration reform. I want this to go to a vote in the Senate and have Schumer force a for real filibuster. If it's going to fail then make it fail publicly with Republicans on record. And I want the MSM to report that the bill was "blocked", not that it "failed to pass."

Quote

Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-CA) and Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) on Thursday will introduce a sweeping immigration bill drawn up by President Joe Biden.

The bill, titled “the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021,” aims to speed up the process of applying for U.S. citizenship to eight years for undocumented immigrants. Applicants will have five years of temporary legal status, then they’ll be allowed to apply for green cards. After another three years, they will be able to apply to become citizens.

The proposal also boosts the Diversity Immigrant Visa program, aka the green card lottery, from 55,000 visas to 80,000.

Additionally, the bill would strike the phrase “illegal alien” from immigration laws and replace it with “noncitizen,” a tangible repudiation of the offensive term that advocates have asserted is weaponized to further marginalize undocumented individuals.

However, getting the legislation passed, particularly in the Senate, is a tall order: Democratic senators, despite having a majority in the chamber with Vice President Kamala Harris’ deciding vote, would need 10 Republican votes to do so thanks to the filibuster.

According to CNN and the Washington Post, administration officials told reporters on Wednesday that it’s “just too early to speculate” whether Democrats could approve the bill through budget reconciliation, a voting procedure that only requires a simple majority.

[golden_valley]

 LFC, on 18 February 2021 - 11:38 AM, said:

The Democrats are taking a swing at immigration reform. I want this to go to a vote in the Senate and have Schumer force a for real filibuster. If it's going to fail then make it fail publicly with Republicans on record. And I want the MSM to report that the bill was "blocked", not that it "failed to pass."

I can hear the howls of amnesty already. It's doomed.

[JackD]

Amnesty? Well, you've got to admit it looks like an invitation to keep coming. Reagan's operated the same way really.

[golden_valley]

 JackD, on 18 February 2021 - 02:55 PM, said:

Amnesty? Well, you've got to admit it looks like an invitation to keep coming. Reagan's operated the same way really.

He promised real reform would follow the stop gap measure but that didn't happen. He paid no political price for this.

[Bact PhD]

 golden_valley, on 18 February 2021 - 12:02 PM, said:

I can hear the howls of amnesty already. It's doomed.

Agreed. Remember the Bush 43 immigration reform proposal circa 2005(+/-), a far stricter setup than the current proposal IIRC, and how the GOP’s nativist wing HOWLED in protest? That wing has become “the base”; GOP Senators don’t DARE support this proposal, under pain of getting primaried.

[LFC]

Meanwhile Republicans seem to remain wed to the most extreme policies possible. The fact that the architect of child/parent separation is being brought in to discussion immigration policy tells us all we need to know about the continuing moral bankruptcy of the GOP.

Quote

Former Trump White House adviser Stephen Miller is expected to discuss immigration policy with conservative lawmakers, Politico reported late Tuesday, a sign that the Republican Party will continue to embrace the former administration’s hardline immigration policies.

Miller, whose is known for his aggressive opposition to most forms of immigration, will be joined at the Wednesday meeting by Tom Homan and Mark Morgan, two former top immigration officials who took part in crafting some of Trump’s most inhumane immigration policies, including family separation, according to a report from The Hill.

The gathering was organized by the Republican Study Committee, a group of conservative lawmakers chaired by Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), who met with former Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday.

The GOP’s continued embrace of Miller demonstrates the party’s unwillingness to back away from the Trump administration’s harsh immigration policies. Before the November election, Miller said that Biden would be “the best friend that child smugglers and child traffickers have ever had in the White House,” a winking nod to the QAnon conspiracy that claims Democrats are a bunch of satanic pedophiles.

The meeting comes as former President Trump is expected to address the Conservative Political Action Conference with remarks later this week that bash his successor’s approach to immigration as Republicans scramble to unify against Biden’s plan, which would provide a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants.

[LFC]

Stephen Miller managed to kill both shame and irony in one shot.

Quote

Former White House senior adviser Stephen Miller, one of the proud architects of ex-President Donald Trump’s child separation policy at the southern border, is very concerned for the wellbeing of young migrants now that President Joe Biden is at the helm of the U.S. immigration system.

“What we are seeing here is the cruelty and inhumanity of Joe Biden’s immigration policies,” Miller ranted during an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Wednesday night. “He came into office and announced that there is an open door and that young people who come into this country illegally are going to be resettled instead of returned.”

The ex-Trump official baselessly claimed Biden’s restoration of what conservatives have derided as “catch-and-release” was “forcing thousands of young children into the arms of smugglers” and other predators.

“He took a secure border, a humane border, a safe order, and he has turned it into this,” Miller fumed.

Several hours before Miller’s interview, Biden had lifted the Trump administration’s freeze on green cards, declaring the ban “harms the United States, including by preventing certain family members of United States citizens and lawful permanent residents from joining their families here.”

[golden_valley]

 LFC, on 25 February 2021 - 02:43 PM, said:

Stephen Miller managed to kill both shame and irony in one shot.

Giving the devil his due... It is frankly scary to share the earth with this person.

[LFC]

 golden_valley, on 25 February 2021 - 03:05 PM, said:

Giving the devil his due... It is frankly scary to share the earth with this person.

"I don't f***ing want him." --Beelzebuddy