US Democratic leaders are willing to make concessions to Republicans in exchange for approving an aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. At the same time, representatives of the left wing of the Democrats and representatives of Latin origin criticize the possible tightening of immigration policy.
Although Democratic US President Joe Biden has proposed $13.6 billion in his $111 billion bill, in addition to aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, to secure the US southern border, Republicans do not they still agreed to support the bill. However, because the bill requires support from the Republican-led House of Representatives to pass, negotiations will continue. The Republicans’ main demand is to tighten immigration policy.
Democrats have not yet officially announced how far they are willing to go in seeking a compromise, but anonymous sources say Democrats would be open to building detention centers for illegal immigrants.
Additionally, Democrats would be willing to toughen the “credible fear of discrimination” standard. People who have reason to fear discrimination in their home country may receive preliminary legal protection in the United States, even though they may not actually have grounds for permanent refugee status, the Times writes.
At this point, nearly everyone arriving at the U.S. border is given initial right of entry and given a court date. However, many fail to appear in court on time and disappear from officials’ radar. As of the end of this year, the number of pending legal cases related to asylum claims rose to three million, up from just two million a year ago.
Yet many Latin Democratic parliamentarians fear they have not been included in the negotiations.
“We are deeply concerned that the President is considering supporting the Trump-era immigration measures that he and Democrats fought against in exchange for help from our allies, which Republicans support anyway,” reads the letter, written along with Alex Padilla, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Immigration, Nationality, and Border Security. Padilla and the other signatories of the letter are Latino.
Padilla also criticized that Democrats were willing to make permanent concessions on immigration policy in exchange for a one-time funding bill.
Representatives of the left wing of the party are also not ready for a compromise with the Republicans. Pramila Jayapal, head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), which brings together 99 House Democrats and one senator, warned that the Republican proposals are designed to fragment the Democratic base. In total, Democrats have 213 representatives in the House of Representatives, so the CCP comprises nearly half of the Democrats in the lower house of Congress.
According to Jayapal, many young and left-wing voters will not vote for Biden next year if he accepts Republican proposals. The congressman believes that these voters will stay home or vote for an independent candidate instead of Biden.
A total of eight million young voters will be eligible to vote for the first time in next year’s US presidential election, and immigration restrictions would not be popular among them, left-wing youth election organization NextGen America said.
“We believe in a future where immigrants and their families are protected and we support policies that welcome immigrants with open arms and respect their rights,” said Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez, head of the organization.
West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, who belongs to the party’s right wing, is calling for significant reforms.
“The reality is that we need major structural reforms to significantly reduce the number of illegal border crossings at our southern border,” Manchin said.
2023-12-26 10:41:00
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