Republicans Sound Alarm on Democrats’ Amnesty Push For Illegal Immigrants

Republicans are sounding the alarm over a Democratic push to include amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants in their budget reconciliation proposal, with the possibility that the effort could get through without the need for any Republican support.

“Conservatives need to focus on a critical fight that hasn’t gotten enough attention: the Democrats’ effort to stuff amnesty into a reconciliation bill,” Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., tweeted Tuesday as part of a lengthy thread.

“Democrats are trying to sneak mass amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants through Congress under the cover of their budget scheme,” Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., tweeted. “They hope you won’t notice.”

Democrats announced earlier this week they have agreed to a $3.5 trillion budget resolution, which would advance a number of top liberal priorities.

Rep. Pramila Japayal, D-Wash., said Wednesday that the resolution will include a pathway to citizenship for “Dreamers, TPS, essential workers, and farmworkers.”

By “Dreamers,” Jayapal was referring to recipients or those eligible for the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) program, which protected immigrants who came to the country illegally as children from deportation. Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients are those from countries where it is deemed unsafe for them to return due to armed ongoing conflict, environmental disasters or “extraordinary and temporary conditions.”

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It is also unclear how many illegal immigrants could be given a pathway to citizenship in such a bill, or what the requirements for them to meet would be {snip}

Similar Democratic efforts to get a broad pathway to citizenship have stalled due to a lacking in GOP support {snip}

However, Democrats may not need Republican support for this effort.

The Democrats have a slim majority in the House, and there is a 50-50 split in the Senate. Because this is a budget resolution bill, the legislation can be passed with only a simple majority and avoiding any GOP filibuster. That would only require the bill gain 51 votes to pass — with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the deciding vote in the case of a tie.

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