Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Sen. Dick Durbin (R-IL) are working on a replica version of the Obama-era “DREAM Act,” according to McClatchy, which has long been supported by Democrats and the Republican establishment.
When asked about working with Graham on resurrecting the amnesty legislation, Graham responded “We’re working on it. We’ll see.”
Under the legislation, the hundreds of thousands of young illegal aliens currently being protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, created by former President Obama, would be given legal status and potentially a pathway to citizenship.
Center for Immigration Studies Director Mark Krikorian told Breitbart Texas that if amnesty is being considered for the young illegal aliens, often referred to as DREAMers, then cutting down legal immigration levels should also be on the table.
“We’re talking about three-quarters of a million people included in this,” Krikorian said. “There’s got to be a legal immigration offset. The DREAM Act on its own is simply indefensible.”
Similar to what Breitbart Texas noted, Krikorian said the Trump Administration should review a trade-off for the DREAM Act where the GOP will support the bill if mandatory E-Verify and Sen. Tom Cotton’s (R-AK) legal immigration-slashing legislation, the RAISE Act, are passed as well.
Cotton’s RAISE Act is a favorite among immigration hawks and pro-American worker advocates, as it would cut legal immigration levels – where the U.S. brings in over one million foreigners a year – by 50 percent and dramatically reduce the number of Green Cards allotted.
Still, Krikorian says his fear is that the Trump administration and GOP are “going to give away the DREAM Act for nothing.”
“That would be a catastrophe,” Krikorian said.
Despite promises to shutter DACA, the Trump administration has not only not closed the backdoor amnesty program, but they have signed up new illegal aliens on the DACA rolls, which allows recipients to work legally in the U.S., as Breitbart News reported. Trump was pushed by multinational business executives like Steven Schwarzman of the Blackstone Group to keep the program running.
A 10-state coalition signed a letter vowing a lawsuit against Trump’s administration for continuing DACA, as Breitbart Texas reported.
Attorney generals from Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, South Carolina, Tennessee, Idaho, West Virginia, Texas, along with the Governor of Idaho, have signed the letter threatening a lawsuit over DACA.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.