(C) El Paso Matters.org
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Opinion: Tying asylum policy changes to Ukraine funding is a bad idea [1]
['Special To El Paso Matters', 'El Paso Matters']
Date: 2023-12-14
By Veronica Escobar
There is no domestic issue more challenging for our country today than immigration. For decades, Republicans have refused to collaborate with Democratic colleagues to create legal pathways for immigrants and have instead insisted on hardening the border and limiting immigration.
Rep. Veronica Escobar
That strategy – a costly failure – is at the heart of secret and high-stakes talks among a very small group of senators who are currently negotiating border policy. Republican senators have gone so far as to call Democrats “clueless” for wanting true, bipartisan conversation. Another saying negotiators can’t “expect to come up with a bipartisan compromise” when extremist border policies are the “price (that) has to be paid” for emergency funding for Ukraine, Israel, the Indo-Pacific and the Department of Homeland Security.
Republicans are willing to hand Ukraine over to Russia unless Democrats hand them limitations to asylum and parole, the few legal pathways still available today, which would put us on the path toward highly restricted immigration envisioned by the MAGA movement.
It’s true that after nearly four decades of failing to pass any meaningful comprehensive immigration reform, Congress must do something. Cities are running out of resources to help address the migrant populations in their communities; our federal workforce – especially Customs and Border Protection personnel – need the support; employers throughout the U.S. are desperate for workers; and the numbers at the border keep climbing.
We must act quickly to provide the emergency funding requested by President Biden. Separately, we must also prioritize a comprehensive solution to immigration and border policy once and for all. But it is dangerous and foolish to hold badly needed emergency aid hostage – especially as our allies and adversaries alike wait to see if America is serious about fighting for democracy.
Rejecting Republican efforts to link border policy to emergency funding doesn’t mean Democrats don’t want progress on the issue. In fact, no one wants progress more than those of us who live and work on the border and in communities that are providing hospitality to migrants seeking asylum.
But let’s be very clear: the “solution” Republicans are pushing – radically changing the asylum system and hobbling parole — will not change the situation at the border. As someone who regularly speaks to migrants arriving at our nation’s front door, I know these proposals will not deter people from making the journey, lower the number of people arriving at the border, and will certainly not create an orderly process. These efforts will simply turn our asylum system into a rapid deportation system.
The sad irony here is that despite our country’s workforce needs, the loudest Republicans continue to call for extreme immigration policies. That MAGA goal is central to these last-minute Senate negotiations.
But if you talk to American business leaders, most will tell you we need immigrants. There are 8 million unfilled jobs in our country today, and nearly every sector and industry needs workers: health care, child care, long-term care, hospitality, and new business starts. But decades of congressional inaction prevent these sectors from meeting their needs and hampers growth.
Republicans frequently say they support immigration but want immigrants to do it “legally” or “the right way” or to “get in line.” But because Congress has failed to create those legal pathways, asylum has been the only “line” available to most migrants. There is currently a multi-year waiting period for asylum claims to be resolved; often, by the time asylum claims are adjudicated, many asylum seekers have integrated into their communities, making it painfully difficult for them to leave if their claim is denied.
The system undoubtedly needs reform, and this is Congress’s legislative responsibility. But instead of focusing on creating a functional system, Republicans’ response to this crucial moment is to say they are willing to let our adversaries around the globe win unless we agree to weaken asylum.
If Democrats give in to this outrageous hostage-taking, it will be a matter of time before the complete elimination of asylum becomes these extremists’ new goal.
Compromise on this issue is possible, if done in a meaningful and serious way, and necessary. My Republican colleague Maria Elvira Salazar and I worked together on addressing the most pressing facets of our broken immigration system, including border security. The result was the Dignity Act of 2023, which we introduced in the spring. It is the first bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill produced in a decade, and while it is not perfect, it represents a starting point for policies that would address the situation at the border and neglected aspects of our immigration system in a thoughtful, bipartisan way.
Solutions are possible. But no good solutions come from this kind of reckless hostage-taking. What Republicans are demanding today – forcing the country down a road of zero immigration in exchange for helping our allies is un-American, unworkable, and would have catastrophic consequences for us at home and for our allies abroad.
Congresswoman Veronica Escobar represents El Paso in the House of Representatives. She is a co-chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee and a National Co-Chair of the Biden-Harris Campaign.
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[1] Url:
https://elpasomatters.org/2023/12/14/opinion-a-better-way-to-fix-the-border/
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