Amnesty advocate Sen. Lindsey Graham lashed out at the Department of Homeland Security after the agency criticized the amnesty amendment being pushed by Graham, other business-first Republicans and by progressive Democrats.
“It seems as if DHS is intent on acting less like a partner and more like an adversary,” Graham complained in a statement.
Instead of offering thoughts and advice – or even constructive criticism – they are acting more like a political organization intent on poisoning the well. From the tone of this morning’s document, it appears as if DHS hopes all border security proposals fail. That would be the worst outcome of all.
Graham’s complaint came after the Department of Homeland Security slammed the “Common Sense Coalition” amnesty amendment which directs the DHS to stop enforcing immigration laws against current illegals and new illegals who arrived before July 1.
“The Schumer-Rounds-Collins proposal destroys the ability of the men and women from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to remove millions of illegal aliens,” the department said in a statement. It continues:
It would be the end of immigration enforcement in America and only serve to draw millions more illegal aliens with no way to remove them.By halting immigration enforcement for all aliens who will arrive before June 2018, it ignores the lessons of 9/11 and significantly increases the risk of crime and terrorism.
It is an egregious violation of the four compromise pillars laid out by the President’s immigration reform framework. Instead of helping to secure the border as the President has repeatedly asked Congress to do, it would do the exact opposite and make our border far more open and porous. It would ensure a massive wave of new illegal immigration by exacerbating the pull factors caused by legal loopholes. By keeping chain migration intact, the amendment would expand the total legalized population to potentially ten million new legal aliens – simultaneously leading to undercutting the wages of American workers, threatening public safety and undermining national security.
The changes proposed by Senators Schumer-Rounds-Collins would effectively make the United States a Sanctuary Nation where ignoring the rule of law is encouraged.
Graham is a business-first Republican who has repeatedly told reporters that he wants more cheap-labor immigrants for agricultural and service companies in his home state. He said January 21 that he is trying to bring in more people for low-wage jobs:
We need more legal immigration … I don’t want green cards just for computer engineers. If you are out there working in the fields, if you are a construction worker, I want some of those people to have a way to stay here, because if you are running a business and you have a guest worker who is really good, and would add value to our country, I want them to have a chance to get a green card. I just don’t want to be a country in the future of just computer engineers or high-tech people.
The establishment media has portrayed the proposed amnesty legislation as moderate and bipartisan, and also describes it as a product of the “Common Sense Coalition” of Democratic and GOP Senators. The amendment is portrayed as moderate even though it does not significantly reform the unpopular visa lottery or chain-migration programs.
The legislation does provide some funding for a border wall, but it hides the money in a bureaucratic maze. Also, it does not close any of the legal loopholes which allow migrants to flood into the United States while claiming asylum. It offers citizenship to more than 3 million migrants, including people who say they are aged 43, and allows them to offer citizenship to millions of their home-country extended families.
But the amendment is also backed by business groups who gain from the large-scale inflow of cheap immigrant workers and taxpayer-aided consumers.
Graham also lashed out when talking to reporters during a press conference on Thursday, February 15. His comments were aimed at President Donald Trump’s immigration advisor, Stephen Miller.
In response to Graham’s comment to reporters, a White House official told reporters:
This item was written by a group of people at the DHS who care deeply about the rule of law and the security of our borders.
Graham’s first statement about the DHS objections also said:
I don’t think the staffers who compiled this document served the President very well. As for Secretary Nielsen, I’m incredibly disappointed in her for allowing her office to become so politicized and for allowing something like this to go out.
Members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats, understand and appreciate the role DHS plays in protecting our nation from threats. We also rely on their advice and technical know-how – particularly when it comes to border security. Statements like this undermine confidence in DHS and make one question whether they can rationally engage with the Congress on this issue. They lost credibility with this release and that’s not good for those of us concerned about protecting our border and making sure DHS has the tools they need to best protect our nation.
Many polls show that Trump’s 2016 immigration policies are very popular in the polling booth. His proposed amnesty for 1.8 million illegals gets high scores in business-funded polls but is unlikely to shift any votes into the GOP column in November.
Immigration polls which ask people to pick a priority or to decide which options are fair, do show that voters in the polling booth put a high priority on helping their families and fellow nationals get decent jobs in a high-tech, high-immigration, low-wage economy. Those results are very different from the “Nation of Immigrants” polls which are funded by CEOs and progressives, and which pressure Americans to say they welcome migrants.
Four million Americans turn 18 each year and begin looking for good jobs in the free market.
But the federal government inflates the supply of new labor by annually accepting roughly 1.1 million new legal immigrants, by providing work-permits to roughly 3 million resident foreigners, and by doing little to block the employment of roughly 8 million illegal immigrants.
The Washington-imposed economic policy of economic growth via mass-immigration floods the market with foreign labor, spikes profits and Wall Street values by cutting salaries for manual and skilled labor offered by blue-collar and white-collar employees. It also drives up real estate prices, widens wealth-gaps, reduces high-tech investment, increases state and local tax burdens, hurts kids’ schools and college education, pushes Americans away from high-tech careers, and sidelines at least 5 million marginalized Americans and their families, including many who are now struggling with opioid addictions.
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