Farmworker Justice Update – 02/16/18
Farmworker Justice Immigration Update – 02/16/18
Results of Senate Immigration Vote and Possible House Debate on Immigration/Guestworker Legislation
On February 15, the U.S. Senate rejected four immigration proposals, none of which garnered the 60 votes needed to pass in the chamber. The result of the brief voting session, which occurred more than five months after President Trump’s rescission of the DACA program, means that there is still no solution or clear path forward for Dreamers. The Senate’s failure to help Dreamers came after strong opposition to the bipartisan amendments from President Trump and his Administration as well as a veto threat. President Trump continues to hold the Dreamer youth hostage to his anti-immigrant agenda.
The “USA Act,” Senate Amendment (SA) 1955, introduced by Senators McCain and Coons, which provided a narrow compromise of a clean DREAM Act coupled with border security, received 52 votes in favor and 47 against. (There is a total of 100 Senators, but Senator McCain was absent due to health reasons, so only 99 votes were cast.) The second amendment, SA 1948, an anti-sanctuary cities amendment from Senator Toomey which did not address the DACA issue, received 54 votes in favor and 45 against. The “Immigration Security and Opportunity Act,” SA 1958, introduced by Senators Rounds and King, and championed by moderates in both parties, similarly received 54 votes in favor and 45 against. The fourth and last amendment, Senator Grassley’s “Secure and Succeed Act,” SA 1959, which encompassed the “four pillar” immigration framework recently proposed by President Trump, received the least support of all the proposals, with 39 votes in favor and 60 votes against. That rejection of the President’s racist and anti-immigrant framework principles was thus the only idea to receive 60 votes. Information on how your Senators voted on each of the amendments can be found here. At the beginning of the week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stated that the Senate consideration of the issue of immigration would not extend beyond this week, so the path forward on immigration in the Senate remains unclear.
Meanwhile, the House is currently considering its own potential votes on immigration proposals. One of the bills that could be brought to the floor is Rep. Goodlatte’s “Securing America’s Future Act,” even though it still does not have enough votes to pass in the House and would almost certainly be rejected in the Senate given that it is even more anti-immigrant than the Grassley proposal. One of the provisions of Rep. Goodlatte’s bill is the Agricultural Guestworker Act (AGA), the anti-immigrant, anti-labor bill he first introduced in October 2017. Some changes have been made to the AGA in an attempt to win over more agribusiness support.
Congress will be in recess next week, which means that even if immigration were taken up again it would not happen until at least late February. The DACA program is set to formally expire on March 5. During recess, some members of Congress will be holding town halls and other events in their local offices. Supporters of the Dreamers will be taking this opportunity to remind elected representatives that the majority of Americans support a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and ask them what they will be doing to achieve that goal.
Farmworker Justice Immigration Update – 02/16/18
Results of Senate Immigration Vote and Possible House Debate on Immigration/Guestworker Legislation
On February 15, the U.S. Senate rejected four immigration proposals, none of which garnered the 60 votes needed to pass in the chamber. The result of the brief voting session, which occurred more than five months after President Trump’s rescission of the DACA program, means that there is still no solution or clear path forward for Dreamers. The Senate’s failure to help Dreamers came after strong opposition to the bipartisan amendments from President Trump and his Administration as well as a veto threat. President Trump continues to hold the Dreamer youth hostage to his anti-immigrant agenda.
The “USA Act,” Senate Amendment (SA) 1955, introduced by Senators McCain and Coons, which provided a narrow compromise of a clean DREAM Act coupled with border security, received 52 votes in favor and 47 against. (There is a total of 100 Senators, but Senator McCain was absent due to health reasons, so only 99 votes were cast.) The second amendment, SA 1948, an anti-sanctuary cities amendment from Senator Toomey which did not address the DACA issue, received 54 votes in favor and 45 against. The “Immigration Security and Opportunity Act,” SA 1958, introduced by Senators Rounds and King, and championed by moderates in both parties, similarly received 54 votes in favor and 45 against. The fourth and last amendment, Senator Grassley’s “Secure and Succeed Act,” SA 1959, which encompassed the “four pillar” immigration framework recently proposed by President Trump, received the least support of all the proposals, with 39 votes in favor and 60 votes against. That rejection of the President’s racist and anti-immigrant framework principles was thus the only idea to receive 60 votes. Information on how your Senators voted on each of the amendments can be found here. At the beginning of the week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stated that the Senate consideration of the issue of immigration would not extend beyond this week, so the path forward on immigration in the Senate remains unclear.
Meanwhile, the House is currently considering its own potential votes on immigration proposals. One of the bills that could be brought to the floor is Rep. Goodlatte’s “Securing America’s Future Act,” even though it still does not have enough votes to pass in the House and would almost certainly be rejected in the Senate given that it is even more anti-immigrant than the Grassley proposal. One of the provisions of Rep. Goodlatte’s bill is the Agricultural Guestworker Act (AGA), the anti-immigrant, anti-labor bill he first introduced in October 2017. Some changes have been made to the AGA in an attempt to win over more agribusiness support.
Congress will be in recess next week, which means that even if immigration were taken up again it would not happen until at least late February. The DACA program is set to formally expire on March 5. During recess, some members of Congress will be holding town halls and other events in their local offices. Supporters of the Dreamers will be taking this opportunity to remind elected representatives that the majority of Americans support a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and ask them what they will be doing to achieve that goal.