07/25/2021
Democrats are preparing to unveil a budget bill that will try to smuggle in an Amnesty for an undetermined number of illegal aliens a.k.a. undocumented Democrats. Just two “moderate” Senate Democrats will determine whether it passes — West Virginia’s Joe Manchin and Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema. Their immigration records deserve a hard look.
The budget bill in question: a $3.5 trillion behemoth that originated in the House. Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal — an India-born Leftist who has bragged about subverting immigration law — said the inserted Amnesty is a “pathway to citizenship” for illegals in four categories [Republicans sound alarm on Democrats' amnesty push for illegal immigrants in $3.5T budget package, by Adam Shaw, Fox News, July 15, 2021].
Details have not been released, but it appears the four are:
At least several millions of illegals will be covered.
Good thing is, the GOP seems united in opposition. “Democrats are trying to sneak mass Amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants through Congress under the cover of their budget scheme,” House Minority Whip Steve Scalise tweeted earlier this month.
But GOP opposition might not matter if the Senate Parliamentarian determines the bill adequately relates to the budget. Then Reconciliation rules would require only a simple majority to pass the bill.
🚨🚨 Democrats are trying to sneak mass amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants through Congress under the cover of their budget scheme.
They hope you won’t notice.
RT to expose them.
— Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) July 15, 2021
Manchin, descended from Italian and Czech immigrants, told reporters this month he’s open to the Amnesty. “I’m a 2013 immigration supporter,” he bragged. “You can look at the 2013 bill and I thought that was a great bill. If we had that bill then, we wouldn’t have the problems we'd have today” [Manchin signals support for immigration in budget deal, by Rafael Bernal and Al Weaver, The Hill, July 14, 2021].
Manchin isn’t kidding. He voted for the Gang of Eight Amnesty. “After careful consideration, I believe that this legislation is a step forward to finally reforming our broken immigration system and effectively securing our borders,” he said eight years ago [Manchin Announces Support For Immigration Legislation That Secures Our Borders, Manchin.Senate.gov, June 27, 2013]. The Mountain Stater has tried repeatedly to revive it, and even tried to get Donald J. Trump’s support. Trump ignored him [‘Gang of Eight’ Revival Unlikely on Immigration Overhaul, by Dean DeChiaro, Roll Call, February 18, 2021]. During the government shutdown fight of 2019, Manchin suggested a Gang-of-Eight-like bill as a way to overcome the impasse [Immigration Reform Is Best Way Forward on Shutdown, Sen. Manchin Says, Bloomberg.com, January 8, 2019]. In 2021, he continues to push it.
No wonder Manchin’s Numbers USA rating this Congress is an F. His 2019-2021 rating is F minus, his Career rating a D.
Despite that record, Manchin looks “conservative” next to his Democrat colleagues. The Gang-of-Eight Amnesty at least pretended to improve border security and curb illegal immigration, even if it didn’t. But Joe Biden’s comprehensive Amnesty doesn’t bother with that at all. There are simply no steps to improve border security. The bill just legalizes illegals and increases legal immigration.
This is driven by the far-Left Democrats who consider any immigration enforcement to be “fascist.” Ethnic activists and these Leftist allies have vowed to oppose any bills that include increased border security or enforcement measures.
Manchin does care about this pretense, though. He crafted a DREAMer Amnesty in 2018 with Republican senators that would have provided full funding for the border wall, an idea no Democrat besides Manchin and Sinema would back today.
Manchin understands he can’t win re-election in a deep Red state with support for Open Borders (although the useless GOP has so far failed effectively to raise the issue against him) He needs some concession to justify his vote. He has even suggested a 90-day immigration moratorium until Congress “can come up with a solution.” But he’s not likely to get anything with the likes of Jayapal, one of the most radical Open-Borders Democrats in Congress. She’ll never accept any serious border security measures.
If Manchin votes for the bill, his career might end. Polling shows that a majority of Americans surveyed don’t favor it. Fifty-seven percent say it would worsen illegal immigration. Most voters in four battleground states — Arizona, Georgia, New Hampshire, and Nevada — say they would be less inclined to support a senator who backed such a measure [Immigration ‘amnesty’ couldbe career-ending vote for Senate Democrats, by Paul Bedard, Washington Examiner, July 14, 2021].
Manchin isn’t up for re-election until 2024, but this vote could still sink him.
It could also hurt the four Democrats who are up for re-election in 2022 — but, in in a sign of the Democrats’ increasing ideological frenzy, none seem likely to vote no. Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock is one of the most radical Democrats in Congress despite his narrow election. The other three — Mark Kelly of Arizona, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada — always toe the party line.
That leaves Arizona’s Sinema, who is arguably more inclined to buck the party line than Manchin. Both oppose repealing the filibuster, to the outrage of the Leftist commentariat. Both also opposed a minimum wage increase and other Democratic wish items [Progressives want to tighten screws beyond Manchin and Sinema, by Hanna Trudo, The Hill, June 12, 2021]. And Sinema seems more ready to ignore the party’s immigration dogma than Manchin.
Since becoming senator in 2019, she’s backed bills to help immigration enforcement. That’s noteworthy given how far Left the Democrats are on immigration. In 2019, she sponsored a bill that eased and accelerated the deportation of dubious asylum seekers [Sen. Kyrsten Sinema pushes program to streamline removal of migrant families, by Rafael Carranza, Arizona Republic, July 18, 2019]. This year, she sponsored a similar bill to streamline the asylum process and hasten rejections [Sinema-Cornyn border proposal would hurt refugees, by Eleanor Acer, Roll Call, June 3, 2021].
Neither of these bills are particularly great. But doing anything that might make it harder for illegals to come here is an exceptional feat in today’s Democrat Party.
Despite that, Numbers USA rates this year as F-minus. From 2019 to 2021, it was F minus, and her career mark, including her time in the House of Representatives, is an F.
Sinema hasn’t made her position clear on the budget bill. But she could be the decisive vote that kills it, a position that will strengthen her re-election chances in 2024.
Democrats are trying to appease for the pair. Axios reported that the budget bill will include $10 billion for “border infrastructure.” But that does not mean border security. The money would build more holding facilities and purchase other amenities for tens of thousands of illegals apprehended by border agents every week.
In other words, “border infrastructure” is about making it easier to bring illegals across the border, then “process” them, not stopping them. The bill would spend $120 billion on legalizing illegals [Democrats tuck in border billions, by Stef W. Knight and Alayna Treene, Axios, July 23, 2021].
Let’s not forget Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough. She has a reputation for fairness and impartiality. She recently shot down a Democratic proposal to sneak a minimum wage hike into the COVID relief package [Senate parliamentarian rules $15 minimum wage cannot be included in relief package, by Sarah Mucha, Axios, February 26, 2021]. She might do likewise with this Amnesty.
So the fate of the Republic hangs on the whims of three people. What a state of affairs.
But whatever Manchin and Sinema decide, Democrats can’t be trusted by immigration patriots. Four Democrats who voted against Amnesty in 2007 are still in the Senate: Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, and Jon Tester of Montana. Alnd all four are now Leftist loyalists on immigration. Sanders co-sponsored Biden’s Amnesty bill and is working on the budget Amnesty bill. None of these four are expected to oppose it.
Dark conclusion: There is no longer any room for Immigration Patriot dissent in the Democrat Party.
If this bill fails, Manchin and Sinema will have plenty of other opportunities to betray the Historic American Nation.
But if they do the right thing, it will at least live to fight another day.
Washington Watcher II is an anonymous DC insider.
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