Washington—Next week, the House is expected to vote on two separate immigration proposals drafted by Republican lawmakers. While the proposals will vary in scope, both will contain amnesty provisions. Amnesty, as The Heritage Foundation explained in 2013, “comes in many forms, but in all its variations, it . . . treats law-breaking aliens better than law-following aliens.” Heritage Action released the following statement from Executive Director Tim Chapman:
Heritage Action opposes amnesty. While lawmakers fighting to build a national consensus for an immigration policy that works for hundreds of millions of Americans deserve credit, those changes cannot be predicated on codification of amnesty. Doing so is fundamentally unfair to immigrants who come to our nation legally and uphold our rule of law.
Heritage Action intends to key vote against the newly released Border Security and Immigration Reform Act, which would grant amnesty to an estimated 1.8 million individuals who came to this country illegally and put them on a path to citizenship. As Heritage Action noted in January, “Amnesty comes in many forms, but it seems they all eventually grow in size and scope.” That is exactly what has happened in this year’s debate. A more detailed analysis will be forthcoming.
Heritage Action opposes the Securing America's Future Act of 2018 (H.R. 4760). “To be clear,” Heritage Action wrote in January, “the Goodlatte bill does contain amnesty.” Those amnesty provisions are “extremely narrow” and the bill also contains “the type of sweeping reforms to our nation’s immigration system that many conservatives have long sought.” However, earlier this year, The Heritage Foundation cautioned “there is the ultimate problem of amnesty.” Heritage explained:
By effectively setting the DACA program in stone, Congress will be providing amnesty—that is, it is rewarding those who came here illegally with legal status, while others waited in line in order to come to the U.S. the right way. In addition to being patently unfair, amnesties encourage more illegal immigration and tend to result in Congress not following through on its other immigration promises and responsibilities.
Heritage Action will oppose and potentially key vote motions to recommit, especially those that would expand amnesty and further weaken the limited positive reforms.
Related:
Real Clear Politics: Why Conservatives Are Proposing a DACA Deal
Fox News Sunday: Shutdown Showdown Is Actually About Chain Migration, Not DACA
Heritage Action: Democrats’ Amnesty Shutdown
Heritage Action: Time to Shut Down Chain Migration
Heritage Action: Harvard Poll Finds Public Supports Ending Chain Migration
Heritage Action: Proposed Amnesty Growing in Size