Senate Republicans Demand Deportation of DREAMers as Price of Addressing Border Crisis
Leading Senate Republican Ted Cruz (R-TX) has demanded that all DREAMers be deported before he will consider helping with the crisis. Senator Cornyn, the second-ranking Republican leader, has now joined Senator Cruz. Will other Republicans rally behind their effort to deport DREAMers?
- According to the Migration Policy Center, only 49% of those eligible for DACA have applied. That means more than 500,000 eligible DREAMers have not yet applied for relief. DREAMers came to this country through no fault of their own.
Despite this, Senator Cruz and Senator Cornyn are demanding deportation of all DREAMers before he will work with Democrats to solve the humanitarian crisis.
Politico: Cruz's next fight: Immigration
Vox: Ted Cruz: Deporting Dreamers Is My "Top Priority"
National Review: Ted Cruz Spox: 'We Want to Stop' DACA
La Opinion: Ted Cruz: "Solo Habrá Fondos Para Crisis Migratoria Si Se Elimina DACA"
ThinkProgress: Ted Cruz Won't Support Funding For Border Crisis Unless Obama Deports DREAMers
Sen. Ted Cruz Demands Deportation of DREAMers: "Cruz spokeswoman Catherine Frazier said the senator's 'top priority' is to end the deferred action program, noting that he is drafting a legislative proposal to prohibit the White House from broadening the policy. 'We believe that needs to be a prerequisite of any bill that is considered by the Senate,' Frazier said." [Politico, 7/16/14]
Vox: "This Is Essentially How Last Fall's Government Shutdown Got Started." "Of course one senator taking an eccentric stand needn't have major political implications. But this is essentially how last fall's government shutdown got started. Cruz floated the idea that Republicans should refuse to fund the government unless the White House agreed to repeal Obamacare. Most Republican members of congress thought that was unworkable and politically unwise. But once the idea gained traction in the conservative media, nobody wanted to take the RINO stand of breaking with Cruz out of political timidity. Next thing you know the whole caucus was stampeding off the cliff." [Vox, 7/16/14]
CBS News: With Cruz Demands, Partisan Divides "Could Get Even Worse." "But the Democratic and Republican divide on the issue, already seemingly insurmountable, could get even worse. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, one of the staunchest conservatives in the Senate, is now arguing that any bill that addresses the crisis must include language to shut down Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a 2012 program started by the Obama administration that removes the threat of deportation for certain immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children before 2007. Republicans have argued the policy was a magnet that spurred the current crisis. Cruz's demands drew a sharp rebuke from Reid on the Senate floor Thursday, when he accused his colleague of 'trying to hold these kids ransom.'" [CBS News, 7/17/14]