Ryan Boulanger, News Editor
@Ryanbcourant
The Issue
According to a national poll conducted by Monmouth University, more than 8 in 10 Americans believe that illegal immigration is either a serious or somewhat serious problem. More telling, as of 2024 91%
of respondents who identified with the Republican Party saw it as a serious problem. This figure rose 25 percentage points from 2015.
It’s no surprise that Trump’s tough rhetoric against immigration has played a role in the amplification of this view. In fact, at a rally just this past March in Ohio he expressed his views on illegal immigrants: “I don’t know if you call them people, in some cases they’re not people, in my opinion.”
Getting in their way
These views are reflected in legislation, as well. The GOP-sponsored RAISE Act, introduced in 2017, aimed to cut in half the number of green cards issued yearly, and halve the number of immigrants per year by 2027. While this bill probably would have gained major support from the rest of the GOP, Trump’s political antics largely got in the way. The bill very well could have passed, as Congressman Dave Brat (R-VA), noted in 2017, but the GOP lacked direction from their leader: “What we are waiting to see is that he is upset. I want to see a temper tantrum… in the short run you can play games up here in the Capitol, but the Republicans have all three branches in government.” (During this time Trump was wrapped up in the firing of FBI director James Comey).
Usually, at some point the high-powered rhetoric behind immigration issues ceases to affect voters, however, the age of confirmation bias, exacerbated by social media usage, has developed a population more concerned with rhetoric and carriage than actual legislation. Although RAISE failed to pass, Trump was successful in curbing immigration in other ways. During the COVID-19 pandemic, (which the Trump administration ironically tried repeatedly to downplay), Trump used the state of emergency to invoke Title 42, which drastically decreased the number of immigrants held in the U.S. seeking asylum by making it easier for border patrol officers to expel undocumented immigrants.
Saying no to major immigration reform
Great, right? We’re on our way to solving the problem most Americans are griping about. Not so much. Conservatives have increasingly complained about sustained border crossing highs under the Biden administration, with the removal of Title 42. These are legitimate claims, the U.S. does have a border overflow problem, and it needs to be addressed. That would lead most of us to believe that Biden doesn’t have any plans to help curb these border crossings. Contrary to popular belief, this is almost entirely untrue.
At the beginning of this year, the Biden-Harris administration called upon Congress to pass their bipartisan immigration bill. This bill, which many progressive members of the Democratic party have called draconian, would allocate almost $20 billion to the crisis according to Politico. The bill grants large sums of money to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, increasing capacity for asylum and detention. Most notably the bill would allow for the Department of Homeland Security to completely close the border if more than 8,500 illegal immigrants crossed the border in one day. This is groundbreaking legislation appealing directly to the GOP.
Guess what happened? Immediately after the bill was introduced in the House, GOP house representatives swore to oppose the bill in unison.
Biden addressed the bill at his State of the Union speech on March 7th, saying “In November, my team began serious negotiations with a bipartisan group of senators. The result was a bipartisan bill with the toughest set of border security reforms we’ve ever seen.” The crowd audibly erupted into boos. House Speaker Mike Johnson sat smugly behind Biden, trying not to smirk while he shook his head to the side. “Oh – you don’t like that huh?” Biden shot back. “That conservatives got together and said it was a good bill? Darn, that’s amazing.”
My frustration almost perfectly mirrors Biden’s. If the GOP got together and helped Biden draw up this bill, why won’t they pass it? The answer: politics. Ahead of a major election cycle, the economy is looking good. Employment is stable. Inflation is down. Typically a target point for the Republican party, they’ll have to shift their tactics to find something else to poke at Biden for. Immigration was one of the key issues that got Trump elected in 2016, so why wouldn’t it work again in 2024? It’s almost too obvious to see what the GOP is doing here.
Alejandro Mayorkas
Over my spring break, I got the opportunity to sit in on a senate session by obtaining gallery passes from my local senator’s federal office. The experience was awesome, to say the least, seeing each of the senators come out to vote was like watching basketball players be announced in a starting lineup. (I almost started cheering when I saw Bernie and Romney walk out – but I held my breath because visitors are supposed to remain silent). As for the political action, nothing much was happening, besides voting on a cloture of the appointment of a federal judge for the Northern Mariana Islands. Just a routine day in the Senate, with senators passing in and out from their important committee meetings to vote on the measure. (At one point Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA) stepped about a foot through the door of the floor to cast his vote by indicating with his hand).
Before voting began, however, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) made a speech to a mostly empty floor. Cornyn stressed the importance that the articles of impeachment drawn up against Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas should take priority over appointing the district judge. This is where the cloture measure derived from, which in simpler terms means that they were temporarily dismissing the appointment of the judge to attend to the impeachment trials.
First off, the GOP has failed to produce any instance of a high crime or misdemeanor that Mayorkas could be impeached for. Second off, holding an impeachment trial would put on hold all other legislative processes, including, but not limited to the appointment of the district judge. The Senate later rejected the impeachment trial on April 17th.
I guess my ultimate point is pretty simple. Dear GOP, stop drawing out political theater ahead of an election cycle. The American people want this issue to be solved. Pass the darn bill.
