Democratic Amnesty Offer is an Indecent Proposal



December 21, 2017

Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) may have sold most of his caucus on the idea that it makes sense to shut down government spending bill if a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) amnesty isn’t included in the year-end spending bill. Now it would seem the Illinois senator is trying to persuade Republicans on an even more absurd proposal.

According to Breitbart News, Durbin, who is among a bipartisan group leading talks to reach an agreement on the status of DACA recipients, wants the GOP to buy into large-scale amnesty in exchange for “his promise to let low-ranking border officials continue routine, non-political practices.”

“The Democrats have made a big show of saying they are for border security, but all they are agreeing to are things that would be done in normal circumstances,” a Capitol Hill source told Breitbart News.

For example, the Democratic negotiating document lifts benign proposals from a border security bill introduced earlier this year by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), including upgrades to computerized license-plate readers used at border crossings that would cost $125 million for FY2018.

Cornyn’s bill is part of the GOP’s SECURE Act, which was introduced in December. Backed by President Trump, It would have extended DACA protections for three years while making modest changes to the legal immigration system and enhancing border security.

However, Durbin soundly rejected the proposal, making it clear that Democrats are unprepared to accept real tradeoffs that respond to the demands of the American people to see our laws enforced and immigration levels reduced.

“It was a 460-page border security bill by Sen. [John] Cornyn,” Durbin told Politico. “I told him that is just not gonna happen. It didn’t even accept the Dream Act.”

In contrast, Durbin is conditioning any agreement upon the adoption of the DREAM Act, a bill which could grant amnesty to more than 3 million illegal aliens and, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), cost American taxpayers as much as $26 billion over the next decade.

In addition to the proposal being a bad deal politically and fiscally, Senate Republicans and the White House need to remember Durbin has a clear mass immigration agenda and is at the negotiating table in bad faith.

Durbin claims to want to negotiate with Republicans, but it is obvious that his concerns lie with open borders activists and illegal aliens and in opposition to the wishes of the American people.

A Dec. 8 Rasmussen Reports poll found only 2 percent of likely voters support placing the interests of 800,000 DACA beneficiaries ahead of immigration enforcement priorities. According to the poll, a majority of voters (61 percent) want increased enforcement measures adopted before DACA is addressed.

When agreeing to have electronic license plate readers at the border is being peddled as a major concession by the Democrats, it should be pretty clear that the current leadership of the minority party has abandoned any pretense of support for meaningful immigration enforcement.

https://immigrationreform.com/2017/1...cent-proposal/