The result of the immigration battle will likely determine the future of the American Republic.
In one of the most audacious aspects of Joe Biden’s amnesty proposal, a legal status would be extended to illegal aliens who were already deported, allowing them to come back to the United States to apply for amnesty.
This would be done through Department of Homeland Security (DHS)-issued waivers given to illegal aliens deported since January 2017. In other words, Biden and Democrats want to undo the deportations carried out by the Trump administration.
DHS would not give waivers to illegal aliens who have been convicted of a felony or three misdemeanors.
However, this would still open the door for waves of foreign nationals to enter the country, flooding the labor market and providing the Democrat Party with millions of new voters who favor large-scale government social programs.
In fiscal year 2019 alone, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported 117,000 illegal aliens who were not convicted of a crime. All of these would be eligible to return to the United States for amnesty under the Biden plan.
Ultimately, the amnesty deal would grant, in just under a decade, citizenship to the 11-22 million illegal aliens currently believed to reside in the country.
Biden’s plan was introduced on Capitol Hill by Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.). It does not include enhancements to border security, even though Biden rolled back many border protections upon assuming office.
For example, he ordered a halt to all deportations, though a federal judge placed a temporary injunction on that executive action.
Menendez denied that the bill he introduced is amnesty.
“To those who want to call this bill amnesty, I know there are some,” Menendez said. “Ten angels could come swearing from above that this is the best tailored legislation, that it will secure our border, regularize our system and they would say, ‘No, it’s amnesty’ — they will never be satisfied.”
If signed into law, the program would immediately give green cards to millions of illegal aliens considered farmworkers, as well as to those enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and those who hold Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
All other illegal aliens who do not fall into the above categories would be given TPS before being allowed to to apply for a green card and eventually receive American citizenship within an eight-year period.
Along with the amnesty would come increases to the number of immigrants allowed under visa categories, swelling the amount of legal immigration to the United States.
With chain migration thrown in, the population of foreign-born individuals and their children would balloon by millions, as would the Democrat Party’s voter rolls.
The Left continues to paint migration as a humanitarian issue. But while they speak of compassion for those who circumvent our laws to enter the country illegally, there is little talk among Democrats about compassion for American citizens, whose safety, quality of life, and freedom will all go down as a result of mass migration, even as their tax rates go up.
Because of the far-reaching political implications of granting citizenship to millions of migrants who illegally crossed our borders, immigration truly is an existential issue. Those concerned about preserving our liberties can no longer afford to play the politically correct game that has been the hallmark of the Republican Party for so long.
Although Democrats control both houses of Congress, it is not certain that they will be able to pass the bill. They need 10 Republican votes to overcome a filibuster. While they would likely get a handful of pro-migration GOP defectors, such as Marco Rubio or Mitt Romney, they may well fall just short of 10. It’s crucial that Americans continue to put pressure on their lawmakers to keep the legislation at bay.
Assuming Democrats are able to turn their plan into law, the courts will be the first obvious battleground. Patriot leaders in red states would do well to begin planning now for immediate legal challenges, aiming to launch lawsuits in federal courts dominated by Republican or even Trump-appointed judges.
And because we can be sure Biden will do nothing to stop further illegal migration, it will be up to red states, particularly red border states, to expand their enforcement operations to make up for the lack of federal initiative on the matter.