President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security says she will “look into” reopening applications for the expiring DACA amnesty program.
During a congressional hearing this week, Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris pushed nominee Kirstjen Nielsen to allow more illegals to enroll in the program, even though Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the DACA program’s award of residency and work permits to 690,000 beneficiaries would expire in March 2018. AG Sessions also ended further enrollment in the program, which was widely expected to be struck down by the federal courts.
Harris’ and Nielsen’s exchange went as follows:
HARRIS: Thank you. At a September 27th hearing, I asked [DHS] Acting-Secretary [Elaine] Duke to extend the October 5th renewal deadline for DACA recipients. It did not happen. It has been reported that roughly 21,000 recipients were not able to gather the documentation, and the $495 that was required as part of the filing, before the deadline. If confirmed, will you reopen the application process and allow these individuals the opportunity to renew their status?
NIELSEN: I would commit to you to look into it. I’m not familiar with the specific numbers, but if there are extenuating circumstances that we should take into consideration, I would look into those and talk with you further. [Emphasis added]HARRIS: I would urge you that part of the extenuating circumstances that should be taken into account is a national survey that found 57 percent of Americans say that right now they do not have the ability to pay $500 of an unexpected bill. Additionally, there have been a number of natural disasters around the country, including my own home state, where Americans have lost their entire belongings, their paperwork, and they are barely getting through the day, much less have the ability to compile extensive documentation and come up with $495.
And I would urge you to prioritize that fact when you think of the extenuating circumstances.
NIELSEN: Yes, ma’am.
Watch the exchange here:
The DACA amnesty-and-work-permit program was invented in 2012 by former President Barack Obama. However, federal laws block illegal immigrants from working in the United States to ensure that companies cannot force down wages by importing cheap labor from overseas.
Nielsen made numerous statements during the congressional hearing that directly contradicted Trump’s America First immigration reform agenda.
For example, as Breitbart News reported, Nielsen said Americans “owe” it to give DACA illegal aliens a permanent amnesty to remain in the U.S.
“I believe that we must and we owe it to them to find a permanent solution,” Nielsen said of passing a DACA amnesty that could potentially lead to a chain migration of 9.9 million to 19 million foreign nationals pouring into the U.S. legally. “It’s no way to expect anyone to live a month or two months at a time,” said Nielsen, even though the DACA work-permits each last for two years.
Nielsen additionally downplayed Trump’s single most important priority for ending illegal immigration: Constructing a border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
In her testimony, Nielsen downplayed the importance of a border wall, saying:
First of all, I would just like to, if I could, quote something Senator [Claire] McCaskill said at the beginning. The president has stated as have my predecessors at DHS, certainly something that I share, “There is no need for a wall from sea to shining sea.” What we need to do is work with the operators, should I be confirmed, I would look forward to speaking with state and local officials, those on the ground, both law enforcement and Federal law enforcement to include CBP to understand where we need some sort of physical barrier.
As Breitbart News reported, Nielsen’s nomination to head DHS has been praised by the cheap foreign labor lobby, open borders advocates, and the Washington, D.C. national security establishment – which allied itself with the failed “Never Trump” movement during the 2016 presidential election.
In a pre-hearing questionnaire obtained by Breitbart News, Nielsen explained how she would be “ready to work with Congress” on a plan to give amnesty to the nearly 800,000 DACA illegal aliens in the U.S.
Likewise, Nielsen chaired a committee at the World Economic Forum that promoted mass immigration to Europe and the U.S., claiming Western nations did not have a choice and needed to accept millions of migrants. That report, as Breitbart News reported, was co-authored by executives from multinational corporations and world banks.
Additionally, Breitbart News reported on Nielsen’s involvement with the Bush administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, when more than 30,000 illegal aliens and foreign workers were able to come to the U.S. to take American blue-collar jobs which those devastated by the natural disaster had hoped to get.
Following Hurricane Katrina, 1.5 million Americans were displaced by the storm, and easing of labor laws by the Bush administration left many looking for work outside of the Gulf Coast because illegal aliens and foreign workers quickly dominated the clean-up effort.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.
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