The meeting was organized by the 147-member Republican Study Committee, a group of traditionalist conservative lawmakers who also recently met with other Trump administration officials, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson. The group met with former Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday.
Immigration policy is quickly emerging as the main motivator for conservatives in the Biden era. The promise of softer, more humane policies has generated confusion and fears of a massive influx of migrants across the border. The opening of an establishment for migrants to minors generated scolding from the left and accusations of hypocrisy from the right. And Republicans, including Miller, criticized the ambitious 357-page immigration plan presented on behalf of the president last Thursday by Senator Bob Menendez (DN.J.) and Congresswoman Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.), In terms apocalyptic.
“It is the most radical immigration bill ever written, drafted or submitted in the history of this country,” said Miller during an appearance on Fox News. “It’s breathtaking.”
The Biden bill, which would provide a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants, incorporates many provisions supported by Republicans in the past, as well as by business groups today. But it leaves out the investments in border security that normally attract the support of the Republican Party, suggesting to many in Congress that it was a message measure designed to fail.
The dream of a comprehensive immigration solution has eluded presidents dating back to George HW Bush. Barack Obama tried and failed spectacularly when moderate Senate Republicans withdrew their support; until Trump repeatedly sought to start negotiations at the Capitol during his tenure – including a failed effort led by senior adviser Jared Kushner – although he became dependent on executive orders and obscure regulatory changes to enact a restrictive immigration agenda.
The Biden White House said its plan is a starting point for future negotiations and a chance to hit the “reset button” on an issue where lawmakers have failed to make significant bipartisan progress in recent decades.
“The reason we have not achieved immigration reform at the finish line is not because of an unwillingness,” Menendez said at a news conference when the project was presented last week. “It is because repeatedly, we commit ourselves too much and capitulate very quickly to the marginal voices that refused to accept humanity and the contributions of immigrants to our country and rejected everything … as ‘amnesty’.”
Biden The push to dismantle Trump’s immigration policies comes at a time when the Republican Party is looking for issues, as well as cultural conflict points, to unify the base and cheer up Republican voters. In addition to Trump’s remarks, CPAC panels this weekend in Orlando, Florida, include “The Looming Humanitarian Crisis at the Border” and “Sell Outs: The Devaluing of the American Citizenship.”
For Trump, the rhetoric of hardline immigration is a form of comfortable political food – a theme to which he returned several times, from his famous campaign speech at the Trump Tower, when he labeled Mexican asylum seekers “criminals” and ” rapists “, for his calls for a total ban on Muslim immigrants until” the representatives of our country can find out what the hell is going on “. Some of his first actions as president were aimed at restricting immigration to the United States. Others, like the end of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, have finally been undone by legal challenges.
Although he lost the presidency, Trump’s approach to immigration remained the dominant strand within the broader GOP. Several conservative groups cited the Covid-19 pandemic as a reason to keep immigration in the front and center, accusing the Biden government of allowing Central American migrants to come to the country, even when they pressure or contemplate restrictions on domestic and foreign travel to prevent the spread of the virus.
“One of the most outrageous things was when the Biden administration launched a travel ban to Florida and new domestic testing requirements, while allowing Central American migrants to enter without testing,” said RJ Hauman, group director of government relations. restrictive Federation for American immigration reform. “Talk about a terrible idea and an even harder sale.”
Even so, research shows that the majority of the country supports immigration reform. Overall, 65 percent of Americans support a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States, according to a February poll by Quinnipiac. And even more – 83 percent – allows undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children to stay in the country and apply for citizenship.
“There is absolutely no public opinion in the world that says the immigration plans of Stephen Miller and Donald Trump are a positive outcome for the Republican Party,” said Todd Schulte, president of FWD.us, an immigration advocacy group. “The human consequences of these policies were terrible and the political consequences for the Republican party were terrible”.