Per Bloomberg, “A bipartisan group of senators will meet Thursday to discuss options for passing immigration legislation this year.” Democrats Dick Durbin (Ill.) and Alex Padilla (Calif.) are joining Republicans Thom Tillis (N.C.) and John Cornyn (Texas) — all “members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which handles immigration policy” — to renew “long-fraught bipartisan immigration talks this year after Democrats in the chamber failed to take up a House-passed partisan tax and social spending bill that included temporary legal status for some undocumented immigrants and measures to streamline legal immigration processing.” That last amnesty push was foiled by basic procedural rules, as I reported at the time:
At a time of unprecedented breakdown and chaos at America’s southern border, Democrats were quietly hoping to include an amnesty package for some 8 million illegal immigrants in their filibuster-protected $3.5 trillion budget-reconciliation push. The move was an attempt to subvert one of the most fundamental aspects of the social contract, predicated on the dubious premise that sweeping immigration reforms were appropriate to the reconciliation’s intended fiscal purpose, carried out through a flouting of the institutional norms and decorum that Democrats have ostensibly held in such high esteem for the last four years. Thankfully, Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough had the courage to stand firm against the effort, announcing in a three-page memo released to senators late Sunday evening that “provisions are not allowed in such bills if their budget effect is ‘merely incidental’ to their overall policy impact,” according to the Associated Press.
The amnesty proposal itself was one of the most radical in American history, granting green cards and a potential path to citizenship for 8 million out of the approximately 11 million illegal residents in the United States — including those with criminal records — and significantly expanding legal immigration without even a symbolic mention of border security, to boot. Were it not for MacDonough, all of that could well have passed under the radar without hearings, floor debates, or in-committee votes.
But now, even as the Biden administration pushes to further exacerbate the border crisis with the lifting of Title 42, Senate Democrats are hoping to renew amnesty once again – with the help of at least two Republicans in the Senate. Bloomberg reports:
Tillis framed immigration action as one of the most important ways Congress could help the economy in part by easing worker shortages.
“We’re in a crisis here, we’ve got headwinds, we’ve got the threat of a recession,” he said. “This is the time to maybe set politics aside a little bit and get good policy in place so we can do our part to lessen the burden that people are feeling here in the country.”
Tillis said measures that could form the basis of a deal include a pathway to citizenship for so-called Dreamers — young immigrants brought to the U.S. as children — border security upgrades, and a guest-worker program to alleviate labor shortages in industries like restaurants.
When will Republicans learn? Voters overwhelmingly favor Republicans over Democrats on the immigration and border issue, and if anything, it’s because of the GOP’s opposition to amnesty. Poll after poll shows amnesty is unpopular, and its popularity actually appears to be decreasing as the border crisis worsens. And the pipe-dream promise of a “deal” that trades amnesty for more border security is a failed strategy. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. It’s time for Tillis and Cornyn to prioritize their constituents over the Chamber of Commerce.