The legislation “does nothing to address the root causes of migration, reduces humanitarian protections, and restricts lawful pathways, which are critical alternatives to unlawful entry,” it said.
Congressional Democrats sharply criticized the bill when House Republicans unveiled it at the end of April, saying it would go beyond the scope of border security and punish all noncitizens, including legal residents, trafficking victims and refugees.
Reached for comment by NBC News, the office of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., pointed to his comments during a press conference Wednesday, where he called the bill the “Child Deportation Act” and characterized it as “one of the extreme MAGA Republicans’ top priorities.”
“How do they propose to address our broken, fragile immigration system? Well, they want to waste billions and billions of taxpayer dollars on a medieval border wall, a 14th century solution that will not work to a 21st century challenge,” Jeffries said. “They continue to bend the knee to the former twice-impeached president of the United States of America in terms of their policy proposals.”
“The Republican approach is anchored in xenophobia and fanning the flames of hatred and distrust and of irresponsible policies that will do nothing to solve the problem,” he added.
The office of the House Democratic Caucus leader, Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, also referred NBC News to his comments during a press conference Wednesday.
“What Republicans are bringing onto the floor this week is not substantive — it’s extreme and recycles the same failed policies from the prior Administration that did nothing to help our situation at the southern border,” Aguilar said.
Rep. Nanette Barragán, D-Calif., chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, on Thursday echoed her Democratic colleagues’ criticism of the bill by casting it as a “product of extreme Republicans’ cruel, unworkable immigration policy.”
“This bill is an adoption of the failed Trump-era policies that call for the criminalization of the right to seek asylum,” Barragán said during a press conference.
Barragán argued that the bill is a “political stunt” that “falls so short, so short, on who we are as a nation.”
“It’s anti-immigrant. It’s anti-Latino, and it’s anti-American,” she said. “It’s time for a comprehensive immigration reform that’s humane, that expands legal pathways for migration, protects your dreamers and addresses the root causes of migration.”
The U.S. is set to lift Title 42, the pandemic-era restriction that expelled migrants immediately without an asylum hearing, at just before midnight Thursday. The expiration of the policy is expected to draw more migrants and slow down processing times for migrants in Border Patrol custody.
More than 11,000 migrants crossed the southern border on Tuesday — exceeding expectations of 10,000 per day that Department of Homeland Security officials predicted when Covid restrictions lift.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
