House Democrats, 39 Republicans Pass ‘Temporary’ Amnesty for Venezuelans

House Democrats and 39 Republicans passed a plan to provide asylum in the United States to potentially millions of Venezuelans fleeing their socialist dictator.

In a 272 to 158 House vote on Thursday, every Democrat and 39 Republicans voted to create a Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program for Venezuela’s population — allowing nationals who are already in the U.S. to remain and incentivizing more to migrate.

Officials with the Trump administration previously voiced their opposition to the plan in an interview with Breitbart News.

“We would not want to open the floodgates for them,” an official said in March.

The Republicans who voted with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Rep. Ilhan Omar (R-MN) include:

• Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE)
• Rep. Michael Bost (R-IL)
• Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK)
• Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX)
• Rep. John Curtis (R-UT)
• Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL)
• Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI)
• Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA)
• Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE)
• Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI)
• Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH)
• Rep. Tom Graves (R-GA)
• Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO)
• Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA)
• Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA)
• Rep. French Hill (R-AR)
• Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX)
• Rep. David Joyce (R-OH)
• Rep. John Katko (R-NY)
• Rep. Peter King (R-NY)
• Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL)
• Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL)
• Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX)
• Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY)
• Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers (R-WA)
• Rep. Francis Rooney (R-FL)
• Rep. Austin Scott (R-GA)
• Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL)
• Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ)
• Rep. Ross Spano (R-FL)
• Rep. Elise Stefancik (R-NY)
• Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI)
• Rep. Steve Stivers (R-OH)
• Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-PA)
• Rep. Michael Waltz (R-FL)
• Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR)
• Rep. Rod Woodall (R-GA)
• Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL)
• Rep. Don Young (R-AK)

Leading the opposition against giving TPS to Venezuela’s population, Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) called the plan an effort to continue current U.S. national immigration policy that acts as “the world’s orphanage for children and adults alike.”

Brooks said:

This bill proposes a tsunami of people coming to our country who are ill-equipped to support themselves. And, let’s put that into the perspective of where we are a nation. We just blew through the $22 trillion debt mark earlier this year. This year, we are looking at a roughly $900 billion deficit. A deal that has been reached that will only increase our deficit by $2 trillion over the next two years pushing our debt up to $22 trillion. This is money we do not have, have to borrow to get, and cannot afford to pay back. [Emphasis added]

How does that relate to H.R. 549? Well, let me share some numbers with you. Sixty percent of households with a lawful immigrant in them are on welfare, living off the hard work of others. Seventy percent of illegal alien households are on welfare, living off the hard work of others here in the United States of America. [Emphasis added]

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a major donor the to the GOP establishment, urged Republicans to join Democrats in helping to pass TPS for Venezuelans.

“The Chamber applauds Representatives Soto and Diaz-Balart for leading the House effort to pass H.R. 549, which would allow many Venezuelans currently in the U.S. the opportunity to legally remain and work in the U.S. while Venezuela is in a state of crisis,” the Chamber’s Neil Bradley said in a statement. “The U.S. government should make it clear that Venezuelan nationals who pose no risk to the safety or security of the U.S. will not be sent back into harm’s way.”

TPS has become a quasi-amnesty for otherwise illegal aliens created under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1990 (INA) that prevents the deportation of foreign nationals from countries that have suffered through famine, war, or natural disasters. Since the Clinton administration, TPS has been transformed into a de facto amnesty program as the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations have continuously renewed the program for a variety of countries.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.