(Ezekiel Loseke, Headline USA) Sens. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., have united to produce, and attempt to pass, a bipartisan immigration bill which includes amnesty for 2 million illegal immigrants before COVID-era protections expire and DACA is dismantled by the courts.
The senators also are scrambling to act quickly while Democrats retain the House majority and before Congress adjourns for the holidays.
According to Axios, the bill, as of now, includes “a pathway to citizenship” for 2 million illegal immigrants; a $25-40 billion funding bump for Border Patrol and border security; a review and amendment of the asylum system, “to prevent the abuse of the law”; and an extension of Title 42.
The bipartisan duo are seeking to cram the bill through the Senate by persuading 10 or more Senate Republicans in the lame-duck Congress to head off two important events.
The first event the bill is trying to head off is the expiration of Title 42, the COVID-era public-health measure that allows the federal government to refuse asylum-seekers entry into America citing health concerns. The program is set to die on Dec., 21, 2022.
Title 42 began being enforced during the Trump administration but thus far has been continued by the Biden White House. Government officials fear that the expiration of this policy will lead to even more illegal immigration, according to Axios.
The second big event is the judicial dismemberment of Obama’s executive order known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which decreed that the government would not enforce immigration laws for anyone brought to the U.S. as minors, regardless of their current age.
The fiat, when first pronounced in 2014, helped spur a massive wave of unaccompanied minors at the border and later became a major campaign issue in the 2016 election as Republican candidate Donald Trump promised to restore immigration law and close the border.
Recently a justice on the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the DACA policy, as written was unconstitutional. However, after a rule change, the policy was upheld but remanded back to the original judge, who is has called for more evidence and is reviewing the impact of the new rule.
DACA is slated to appear before the Supreme Court for the third time. The court famously deadlocked on the rule in 2016, as reported by Politico.
In 2020 the Court ruled that President Trump improperly ended DACA, in a ruling that PBS described as “for DREAMers” and “Against Trump.” However, even the mainstream media is projecting the dismantling of DACA after it was remanded.
Thus, the duo are seeking to cram amnesty for 2 million illegal immigrants through Congress while Democrats still hold a bicameral majority.
