Thread: DACA and border security should go together, U.S. Rep. Martha McSally says

Martha McSally, Opinion contributor Published 6:30 a.m. MT July 2, 2018 | Updated 7:03 a.m. MT July 2, 2018

Opinion: I support helping the DACA population. But we can’t incentivize more illegal immigration and find ourselves in the same situation in the future.


(Photo: Tom Tingle/The Republic)

he debate over border security and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), an Obama policy that prevents undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children from being deported, has dominated the news cycle in recent months. The media coverage of the House’s immigration legislation has been convoluted and confusing. Let me explain what we’ve been trying to do.

I’m one of nine members of Congress who represent a border district. I’m the Border Security subcommittee chair — a first for Arizona — and my constituents are confronted daily with the dangers of a porous border, where cartels are trafficking drugs, people and whatever else fills their bank accounts. To combat these violent criminals, I have made it my mission to fight for more resources, infrastructure and a better border security strategy.

Last September, President Trump appropriately pushed Congress to deal with DACA, and I started working with a group of Republican House members to devise a solution that would fix our broken immigration system and secure our border. We introduced the Securing America’s Future Act in January 2018.

Bill combines border security, 'dreamers'

The bill, the first in the House supported by the president, provides $38 billion for border security enforcement including the border wall, technology at the ports of entry, access roads and additional boots on the ground. The bill would also close loopholes being exploited by cartels, stop family separation while enforcing the law, end the visa lottery system and chain migration, and provide a legal status for DACA recipients.

It is extremely difficult to get agreement on these complex and often politically charged topics. We felt this bill provided the best solution to protect our borders, close loopholes and fix DACA.

I have also consistently shown – with my votes, words and actions – that I am willing to support a legislative solution for the DACA population. But any solution must be combined with fixing the root causes of why we have a DACA population in the first place. We can’t incentivize more illegal immigration and find ourselves in the same situation in the future.

More of the same is unacceptable

Over the last few years, hundreds of thousands of people have disappeared into the shadows illegally after falsely claiming asylum and taking advantage of other loopholes that exist in our legal immigration system. This “catch and release” vulnerability in our laws is insane and Congress must act urgently to fix it. If we do nothing, we will just have more of the same — and that is unacceptable.

Securing America’s Future Act fell just 21 votes short of passing the House on June 21, and a similar bill also supported by President Trump, where the generosity provided for DACA recipients was expanded, failed too by a much larger margin.

I voted yes on both bills, and was the only member among the nine in Arizona’s congressional delegation to do so. Kyrsten Sinema – who has said she is willing to work across the aisle to get this done – did not vote for either bill.

Though I prefer a solution closer to my bill, we must do something to keep our communities safe and stop the insanity of what is happening at the border. I’ve been working since I first arrived in Washington, D.C., to solve this issue — and I’m going to keep fighting till we get the job done.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/opin...her/748931002/

While I am sympathetic to the DACA people, the demands have made me less sympathetic. Their parents broke the law coming here and bringing them. That parents should be prosecuted and deported. The children who "came here through no fault of their own" never the less are here illegally. They have no right to be here.

The proper way to come here is to apply at the American Embassy in their country and wait their turn to be considered for immigration. Technically, those DACA people should be required to return to their country and apply for immigration, and wait like every other applicant. But I realize that many have established ties here, that they would be aliens in their own country.

The solution would be to grant them a temporary visa when they apply to immigrate. Then they are on strict probation to obey all laws while waiting. Any violation should bring immediate deportation and permanent exclusion from returning to the U.S.

This still gives them an advantage over those seeking to come here legally as they would be working at jobs, building their assets, where legal applicants won't have that benefit as they wait.

Unlike Rep. Martha McSally, I don't think border security and DACA should be combined in legislation. There should be no requirement to grant amnesty and/or citizenship to those not here legally in order to get border security.

No temporary Visa

NO entry until 100% vetted with medical exam on their soil. No diseases! No medical conditions WE have to pay for.

No welfare, no food stamps, no free medical, no free anything for 10 years!

If they are a Public Charge...OUT they go!

NO AMNESTY FOR DACAs!

Playing around with words again.

In one paragraph, she supports legislation fix for DACA.

In the next paragraph, she supported the immigration bill for a legislation fix for Dreamers.

HUGE difference. DACA has approx 750,000 recipients and Dreamer's have unknown millions of
illegal aliens under this classification.

WHICH ONE IS IT?

What I still don't understand is why no one demands the crooked thieving gypsy parents who brought them here haven't already been deported. There's usually 2 of them, so it's twice as many to deport, they aren't covered by DACA, DHS has their information, all of it, because in the application they had to verify they were brought here by their parents, so start focusing on getting the parents out of here who aren't entangled in all this legal jumbo mumbo. Then when the DACA is settled and it's a clear path to deport them, they've got their parents in their home countries to return to and you deport DACAs under humanitarian "family reunification".

GET SMART!