A Republican senator working to hammer out an agreement on an immigration bill said the measure is aimed at securing the border and granting citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants.
“We want to seal the border. We want to prevent 2 million crossings every year—with Title 42 going away, potentially many more than that. We want to protect our Border Patrol agents,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said on Fox News on Dec. 8.
Title 42 is a pandemic-era health order that enables border agents to quickly expel some illegal immigrants over fears they are infected with COVID-19. A judge recently stuck down the order, but delayed implementation of his ruling until Dec. 21 to give officials time to prepare for the program’s end. The government is appealing the ruling.
The bill would reportedly include a provision keeping Title 42 in place.
Tillis also confirmed that the bill would provide citizenship to a group of illegal immigrants who came to the United States when they were children.
“Here is what they have to do. They have to be in school. They have to be gainfully employed. They can be in the military. They can’t have a criminal record and never have been on any sort of federal assistance,” Tillis said. “These are people that came to this country as minors who are now doctors, scientists, teachers, hundreds serving in the military.”
The Republican suggested that the path to citizenship would be part of the agreement to gain Democrat support for border security improvements.
“I think the American people understand this is very different than this concept of amnesty. This will give them a path, and it is not automatic. They will have to work and maintain those high standards,” Tillis said. “And for that, we get a closed border, and we shut down the cartels. That seems to me like something worth working on.”
Tillis is working with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who was a Democrat but just announced a switch to being an independent, on the proposal, which faces an uncertain fate in the 50-50 upper chamber.
Even if all 50 Democrats or nominal independents who caucus with the Democrats approve the measure, it would need the support of nine Republicans in addition to Tillis.
The text of the proposal has not yet been released.
On his website, Tillis is described as “a national leader pushing for secure borders and a merit-based immigration system” who has been “working to break decades of gridlock and inaction from Republicans and Democrats.”
Tillis wants to reduce illegal immigration and human and drug trafficking while “resolving the legal uncertainty surrounding DACA by proposing a commonsense, merit-based pathway to legal status for Dreamers,” the site says.
DACA, or the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, was an executive order from then-President Barack Obama in 2012 that enabled illegal immigrants who came to the country when young to be immune from deportation for a period of time and to be eligible for a work permit. The Trump administration tried to end the program, but was blocked by courts. President Joe Biden reinstated it in January 2021. Several courts since then have ruled the program was illegal, but have allowed it to remain in place pending resolution of the case.
Approximately 643,500 illegal immigrants were protected by DACA as of 2020. Hundreds of thousands of others could be granted amnesty if it is enacted.
Sinema
Sinema, who announced Friday she was becoming an independent, said in an op-ed detailing her decision that securing the border is one of her top focuses.
“For those who support my work to secure the southern border, ensure fair and humane treatment for migrants and permanently protect ‘Dreamers’ who are Americans in all but name, those will remain my priorities,” Sinema wrote.
Sinema has been one of the few Democrats to call for Biden to step up immigration enforcement as record numbers of illegal aliens cross into America from Mexico.
Cornyn
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a top Republican negotiator on immigration proposals, panned the Tillis–Sinema measure in several interviews.
“I have said to them that I don’t think there’s any way we can pass immigration legislation without addressing the crisis at the border,” Cornyn told the Washington Post.
“I think until the Biden administration owns up to its responsibilities on the border it’s not possible to pass an immigration bill,” he added to Bloomberg.
Other critics include Stephen Miller, who advised Trump on immigration.
“We are currently in the middle of the largest ongoing epidemic of minor smuggling in history. There is nothing more reckless, dangerous or destructive you could do at this moment than amnesty illegals who arrived as minors,” Miller said in a statement.
Proponents include Kristie De Peña, vice president of policy and director of the Niskanen Center’s immigration department, who said the framework “strengthens border security, offers 2.3 million Dreamers citizenship, and modernizes the immigration system to address our current challenges.”
close the border Yes but No to amnesty to illegals .
This idea will give leverage to the Democrats for voting. This is a terrible way to respond to securing our Borders.
NO AMNESTY to illegals!!!
Every single illegal alien needs to be deported, and if Eisenhower did it, so can we. We do not need immigration reform, we need immigration enforcement.
I;d even go so far as to say EVERY ILLEGAL INVADER Supporter in this nation, needs to be PUBLICALLY STRIPPED of their US citizenship, and Exiled to what ever nation WE can send them too…. Permanently.
traitors traitors traitors traitors!!!!
I have been frustrated by what has been demonstrated by our Republican morons for more than 6 decades. Their penchant for suicidal activities and stupidity is the result of the Republican mindset, “live, and let live.” However acceptable that level of disinterest is in the general public, it is totally unacceptable for the elected leadership. However, they don’t see it that way. They believe that the right to individualism means that they can do whatever they want because their constituents want it. THEY ARE WRONG! Why? First, and foremost they are depending on their elected leaders to establish a team that can obtain legislative relevance with at least some level of impetus. If they can’t do that then they won’t get their constituent’s desires enacted.
This type of move is the HEIGHT OF BETRAYAL of the Republican Party. Even before they manage to gather together the crumbs of the victory that should, and could have been a landslide, quislings like Sen. Thom Tillis are already moving to eliminate whatever relevance they might have been able to muster in the next House of Representatives.
Make no mistake, this fool is betraying the party. And our party will do nothing. You may ask what they could do. I’m no expert on the Rules of the House but I suspect they can do a lot. With all the speculation about what they are going to do with the Democrats, it must be undesirable. But, my money says that nothing will happen to Demolicans like Sen. Thom Tillis.
Ok, you can have a little sympathy for the kid that was brought here as child and raised here. But amnesty is going to try to include every minor that ever crossed the border even if it was last week. The other problem is once you grant them citizenship they will be allowed to bring their parents, siblings, and god knows whatever other relatives under the amnesty umbrella. Even if you give the DACA kids, which are adults now, amnesty the rest should be deported.
Reagan fell for this **** years ago based on promises that the democrats made. How’d that work out? Can’t trust a dem any further than you can see them. And that’s even questionable
Reagan agreeing to amnesty in the 80s, was one of his BIGGEST Screw ups ever…
This is how it starts – You r e w a r d M i l l i o n s of lawbreakers, then wonder why no one respects the law.
N o A m n e s t y f o r L a w b r e a k e r s – w h e r e d o e s i t s t o p ?
Should pickpockets be rewarded? Drug dealers? Human traffickers? Why should one group be rewarded and not the other?
They do not pay income tax, they get free primary and secondary education, they get free government food and health care = all rewards for breaking the laws of our country.
Legal American citizens would be arrested for the same actions.
E v e r y o n e who entered this country I l l e g a l l y – E v e r s h o u l d b e d e p o r t e d- They made their choice
Exactly. IF we are no longer going to PUNISH law breakers. WHAT then is
A) the point in having border agents
B) the point in having cops
C) the point in having COURTS
and D) THE POINT IN having law makers (RE POLITICIANS!)???
Another RINO exposed. The citizens of his state need to think smart and become smarter by recalling him before the state goes woke and becomes like california.
Let’s see…… parents rob a bank 15 yrs ago, finally get caught. Children can keep the money.
IN effect, that’s what rewarding these invaders, is doing.. GIVING THE REWARDS TO THE KIDS for what crime(s) the parent(s) did…
The cost must be so high it prevents the same thing from happening again. So Far I have heard nothing about the penalties and costs. Let’s start with castration, Spay, double taxation for life, 100% confiscation of their trust or probate estate when they die and an automatic lien on all their property so they can not sell it without government permission and pay back. If the cost is $500 and a free dinner at Taco Joe’s it will only encourage breaking the law. We need to be tough on this or there is no immigration law.
That’s why i would love to take all those Fentnyle pills we keep confiscating, turn them into mist, and create a ‘Wall of mist’ along the entire border. 20 meters deep, 20 feet high, that JUST STAYS THERE…..
NOW LETS SEE if they want to cross that!
Another RINO that needs to be sent to a political prison, maybe Newsome will refurbish it for that purpose. I am sure it will be filled to capacity with many deserving candidates, including FBI and CIA members.
This senator looks like a Joe Biden impersonator, all he needs is just a few touches of a good makeup artist.