The Quote Below—More Misinformation from the Media
“Ten years ago this month, Sen. Chuck Schumer declared, ‘We all know that our immigration system is broken, and it’s time to get to work on fixing it.”. . .. But it was Lindsey Graham who offered the boldest prediction.
“I think 2013 is the year of immigration reform,” the South Carolina Republican said.
“It wasn’t. And neither has any year since those “Gang of Eight” senators from both parties gathered in a Washington auditorium to offer hopeful pronouncements. In fact, today’s political landscape has shifted so dramatically that immigrant advocates and top architects of key policies over the years fear that any hope of an immigration overhaul seems further away than ever.
“Many Republicans now see calling for zero tolerance on the border as a way to animate their base supporters. Democrats have spent the last decade vacillating between stiffer border restrictions and efforts to soften and humanize immigration policy — exposing deep rifts on how best to address broader problems. . . .
“Congress came the closest to a breakthrough on immigration in 2013 with the Gang of Eight, which included Schumer, a New York Democrat who is now Senate majority leader, and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. Their proposal cleared the Senate that June and sought a pathway to citizenship for millions of people in the country illegally and expanded work visas while tightening border security and mandating that employers verify workers’ legal status. . . .
“Still, Republican House Speaker John Boehner gauged support for the Gang of Eight bill in the GOP-controlled chamber in January 2014 and said too many lawmakers distrusted the Obama administration. By that summer, the bill was dead. . . .
“Biden endorsed a sweeping immigration package on his Inauguration Day, but it went nowhere in Congress. His administration has since loosened some Trump immigration policies and tightened others, . . .
“[Biden’s DHS Secretary Alejandro] Mayorkas said recently that officials aim to create ‘lawful, safe and orderly pathways for people to reach the United States to claim asylum and to cut out the smuggling organizations.”. . .– Immigration reform Stalled Decade After Gang of 8’s Big Push, Will Weissert & Adrina Gomez Licon, AP News 4/3/23 [Link]
Fact Check of Above Quote: This article misleads by suggesting that the 2013 “Gang of Eight” bill was any kind of “reform,” i.e., a step to improve a policy. In reality, the bill proposed to grant a mass amnesty to illegal aliens in the U.S., a clear invitation for more to come. In exchange for this huge concession, border control advocates got a few piddling promises for enforcement against illegal immigration. In addition, the bill proposed to push our record level of legal immigration even higher. All and all, this legislation was a sellout to the vested interests of cheap labor and cheap votes. Cynics rightly derided its Senate sponsors as “the eight gangsters.”
As the article waxes nostalgic for the 2013 bill, it seems to indicate that we might want to revisit it. After all (supposedly), we now can afford to be generous because the border is “secure.” At least that’s what the Biden Administration claims. The article reassures its readers that Biden has merely “loosened” some of Trump’s policies and “tightened” others.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The border, relatively secure under Trump, went out of control when Biden systematically weakened and eliminated Trump’s policies. The article reveals much more than it realizes when it quotes Mayorkas’ statement that his aim is to create “lawful, safe and orderly pathways for people to reach the United States.” It sounds nice–until one considers that it is not the job of our authorities to provide a “pathway” for illegal migrants. Its proper task is to stop them.
With our border in its current deplorable shape, the last thing we need to consider is revival of a bill which would make our current problems even worse. The project of the eight gangsters is dead—and it should stay dead.