On Thursday, the House of Representatives approved two immigration-enforcement amendments
to the Commerce, Justice, and Science spending bill. Both amendments
were offered by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) and passed mostly along
party-lines with a few Republicans digging in their pro-amnesty,
anti-enforcement heels, and a few Democrats, facing tough races in the
fall, attempting to show their constituents that they don't stand with
the rest of their caucus on the issue.
Rep.
King's first amendment would reallocate $5 million to the Justice
Department for the sole use of investigating a recent report from the
Center for Immigration Studies that found the Administration had
released more than 36,000 criminal illegal aliens
from custody while awaiting deportation. The amendment passed,
218-to-193, with Democratic Reps. Barber (AZ), Barrow (GA), Lipinski
(IL), Peterson (MN), and Rahall (WV) voting in favor of the amendment.
It's further evidence that, despite some media reports, Members of
Congress in toss-up districts need to support immigration enforcement
rather than side with amnesty advocates.
Rep.
King's second amendment is one that's offered nearly every Congress and
would deny funds appropriated to the Justice Department from being used
to reimburse municipalities that provide sanctuary to illegal aliens.
The amendment passed 214-to-194.
The
House is in recess next week, but in the next few weeks, Leadership
will likely bring to the floor the spending bill for the Department of
Homeland Security. We should see votes on several immigration amendments
to that legislation.
NO AMNESTY IN NDAA
Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, has announced that Senate Democrats will not include Rep. Jeff Denham's (R-Calif.) ENLIST Act
in the Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act. This
is a significant victory considering House GOP Leadership supported
Denham's effort to include his military amnesty in the NDAA.
What's maybe more interesting, though, are the comments from Gang of Eight spokesman Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.):
We
are not going to go along with minor fixes that fail to address the
huge systematic problems of our immigration system today. ...
If
the oil is leaking in your car, your muffler has a hole in it, and you
have a flat tire you don't change the windshield wipers. But that's what
they want to do with this ENLIST Act. Republicans are barely even
considering that, but it doesn't even scratch the surface of our
immigration system.
Sen.
Schumer claims that he provides a voice for the 11-18 million illegal
aliens living in the United States, but he's made it clear that he's not
interested in passing legislation that grants amnesty to just one
segment.
Sen.
Levin's decision coincides with an announcement by the Obama
Administration stating that it's delaying a review of deportation
policies until later this year. The administration worries that taking
further steps to curb even more deportations would provide House
Republicans with more reason to not act on immigration reform. The White
House warns, however, that it will take steps to end nearly all
immigration enforcement if House Republicans don't act by the end of the
summer.
| chris chmielenski |
| Fri, May 30th |
| 
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