EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Calling it a “wake-up call” for colleagues using migrants as election campaign props, House Democrats have filed a resolution blaming the ongoing border humanitarian crisis on Republican inaction on immigration reform.
The resolution enumerates several immigration reform bills from 2007 through 2023 that Republicans in the House or Senate voted down. It also accuses GOP leaders of declaring as “dead on arrival” immigration bills that might help President Joe Biden politically.
“It’s been almost 40 years since the last comprehensive immigration reforms were enacted. Forty-years,” U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas, D-Oregon, said in a call with reporters on Monday. “We almost had something from the Senate that was put on the table in a bipartisan way. If it weren’t for (former President) Trump telling the House, then the Senate not to bring something forward because he wanted to use it as a political (electoral) weapon, we would be talking about a proposal right now.”
She blames Trump for sinking the latest attempt to address the crisis through legislation and Republicans in Congress for “following him right off that cliff.”
The Democratic resolution is sponsored by U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, D-New Mexico. It has been referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
“This broken immigration system that we have today has solutions if we can just work together,” Vasquez said during the call. “As we face urgent needs for additional resources at the border for Customs and Border Protection, for detention center oversight and modern border technology, we see a partisan block in Congress. We are here to find solutions, not play political games.”
The Democratic maneuver comes a week after House Republicans filed a similar resolution blaming the Biden administration for the border crisis.
U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, last week said 9.5 million unauthorized migrants have crossed the border illegally since the start of fiscal year 2021 and condemned the Biden administration for “failing to enforce immigration laws.”
Salinas called the more recent Democratic resolution “an olive branch” for moderate Republicans to discuss “common-sense” immigration reform. The Democrats did not enunciate specifics but referenced efforts to bring undocumented workers certainty through legalization, provide labor for U.S. employers and give migrants more lawful alternatives to just showing up at the border.
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