We Did Have A Solution to Immigration: Trump Told Republicans to Nix The Bill
We Did Have A Solution to Immigration: Trump Told Republicans to Nix The Bill
The far right of the Republican Party and the Republican leaders in the House and the Senate have been providing significant disinformation regarding The Border Security Act that never made it through the Senate.
https://www.lankford.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/MCC24166.pdf
And the Republican electorate still buys the lies.
This was the bill that would have provided solutions to many of the immigration issues pervasive at our southern border. It was tied together with the aid for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. The bill offered effective immigration policy for the first time in 40 years, WITH the Democrats actually giving far more in immigration reform than they have in the past. It would have been a win for Republicans if only . . . .if only. . . .they had come to their senses and stopped bowing down to Trump.
What was in this bill that the Republican Party and Trump killed for the United States border policy?
Senator Lankford (one of the more conservative and highly respected senators) worked on this with Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I, Arizona) and Senator Chris Murphy (D, Conn). Senator Lankford stated:
“Our immigration laws have been weak for years. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to close our open border and give future administrations the effective tools they need to stop the border chaos and protect our nation.”
Listen to Senator Lankford. And hear his frustration.
Senator Lankford lists some of the lies that the Republican Leadership have made about the bill – lies to appease Trump.
There is amnesty in this bill. (False)
It weakens our asylum laws. (False)
It takes away the Remain in Mexico policy. (False)
It gives away work permits the first day. (False)
It lets 5000 aliens in everyday now and forever. (False)
Sigh. . . . .
“All of these lies are absurd.” Yet the Republican leadership keeps on with the lies. And the Republican electorate keeps believing leadership.
From Senator Lankford’s webpage (short summary), this is what is ACTUALLY in the bill. Read through it. It’s almost everything we’ve been asking for.
NO amnesty—period
NO free work permits handed out at the border
NO more 10-year wait for an asylum hearing
Builds the wall
More ICE agents for deportations
More Border Patrol agents for arrests
More asylum officers for faster hearings and deportation
More than $650 million is recapitalized for border wall construction next year
Adds more technology at the border to interdict drugs and illegal crossings
Increases detention beds to 50,000 to end catch and release
Doubles the number of deportation flights
Ends the cartel trick of trafficking children with adults so the adults can enter the country faster
Raises the standard to prove an asylum request, so people coming to our border can no longer just say, “I have fear in my country” and get released into America for years
Deports anyone seeking asylum with a criminal record immediately, instead of the current policy of deporting them years from now
Deports any alien who could have resettled in another country on the way to the United States
Deports any alien who came to America to seek “protection,” but they could have just moved to another town in their own country and been safe
Adds more asylum officers for screening to make sure the handful of people who actually qualify for asylum are able to be considered for that process fast and the majority of people who do not qualify for asylum are deported faster
Creates a new Title 42-like authority to shut down and deport everyone when the border is being overrun-
Currently when there is a caravan of people, everyone is released into the country because there is not enough time to process everyone fully. This new authority would reverse that by deporting everyone when the border is overrun with too many people to process.
Creates sanctions for the criminal cartels who traffic dangerous drugs like fentanyl and meth into our country
Finally finishes vetting the Afghan refugees that have been in our country for two years and accelerates the processing of the Afghans that fought alongside our troops who are already in the country
Moves our national strategy one giant step closer to zero illegal crossings a day
Not only did the Republican Party abandon Senator Lankford, but a news commentator threatened the Senator. “Sen. James Lankford claimed that a popular commentator threatened to ‘destroy’ him if he passed a bill that solves the crisis at the border.”
“By the way they have been faithful to their promise and have done everything they can to destroy me in the past several weeks,” Lankford said during a speech on the floor Wednesday. Lankford said the commentator, who he did not name, did not want the issue solved during an election year.
What is so very disappointing and dangerous is that our Republican candidates in Maryland’s primary election for offices in both Federal or State positions have been providing significant disinformation. Or maybe they are more ill-informed than they are letting on.
Only Governor Larry Hogan spoke to the truth. ‘Trump had urged Republicans in the upper chamber to vote against the bill before it was unveiled last month, saying its passage would be a political victory for President Biden. The border security package failed in the Senate by a vote of 49-50, with the majority of the Senate’s GOP conference voting against it.
But Hogan said he had a change of heart last month when he “saw a real solution to secure the border and to provide funding for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan — something that most of the Republican senators had said was, all those things were important — and they were they were told to vote against what they believed in.”
The move, said Hogan — a frequent critic of Trump — made him “frustrated and angry enough to say, ‘I think I’m gonna go down there and try to do something about this.’”
https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/4507286-hogan-trump-bipartisan-border-bill-maryland-senate/
I have heard NO Republican candidate running in the Federal and State Primaries (other than Governor Hogan) speak honestly AND with any degree of understanding about what the Republican Party actually gave away in order to appease Trump – The Republican Party gave up a very real start to border security.
Robin Ficker is still stuck on the lie that it would allow 5000 illegal immigrants a day into the US without intervention.
Dan Cox’s webpage indicates he wants restoration of Remain in Mexico policy, end catch and release, eliminate asylum fraud, wants the end of influx of illegal drugs, etc. I ask Dan Cox why he did not speak for Senator’s Lankford’s Border Bill??? OH, remember Dan Cox is devoted to Trump. . . .so it might appear that Dan did not REALLY want to fix the border crisis!!!????
I honestly question if our candidates understand what this bill offered? They certainly do not sound as if they understand.
And there is this:
President Trump: “Don’t fix anything. Don’t resolve this. It’s an election year.”
Fox host: It was your colleagues in the Republican Party who torpedoed your border bill, not Democrats GOP
Sen. Lankford: It was. Trump said don't fix anything, so my colleagues looked for a reason to shoot against it
Fox host: That's on Trump
https://x.com/bidenhq/status/1781072395186442407?s=66&t=mVFJqr5JXNJhMtCAEPSd6A
I am a registered Republican. I’m tired of what this Republican Party has become under Trump.
If Trump is a good businessman (as he claims) then he would know to take the deal when you are getting more than you have ever been able to get. Trump could have advised the leaders to take the deal and spin it to his advantage. The Republicans literally could have taken a legitimate victory lap.
But here we are. No deal. The border problems till plague us. And the Republican Party and our leaders and our candidates are still lying to us.
The question is why are we allowing Trump and the far right to dictate that we stay stuck with our immigration issues? Why is the electorate not pissed off?
It is time for Republican voters to change this path. We do not need “republican” manipulators in the White House or the Senate or Congress. We need people who will get things done when it is right in front of them.
My message to fellow Republicans:
Stop reading the memes. . . they are never truthful AND never the full story.
Read the primary sources (Read summaries of the bill).
Listen to the primary sources (Senator Lankford, for example).
Ask questions of the candidates!!! Don’t let them dodge around this one.
Call a candidate out for giving mis- or disinformation.
Call the candidate out if they are not current on issues.
Don’t hold onto “Republican” talking points.
Republican electorate. Please don’t allow this kind of sabotage to our getting things done for the country. We could have had the best immigration reform in 40 years. .. and Trump and the far right sabotaged this effort.
Yes, these lies have been traveling around the country for weeks now. The lies come from our own leadership in the party and from the candidates for office in this primary. Shame on them. We as voters have to demand far more from our Republican Party. It’s past time for the Republican Party to end this fealty to someone who refuses to conduct business for the country and not himself.
Time to get your shoes on and demand better of our Republican Party.
**************
GET THE FACTS
Senator Lankford’s 2 page summary:
https://www.lankford.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/FINAL-GENERAL-ONE-PAGER.pdf
https://www.sinema.senate.gov/sinema-negotiators-reach-deal-on-bipartisan-border-security-package/
 | A guest post by
|