House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte responded to immigration enforcement agents’ concerns about a House DREAM Act proposal Wednesday.
“Any immigration reform proposal must first strengthen border security and interior enforcement before any legalization happens. That is why the first bill the House Judiciary Committee approved was the SAFE Act,” Goodlatte said in a statement.
Taking immigration reform in a more piecemeal fashion than the massive Senate-passed bill, the Judiciary Committee approved the Strengthen and Fortify Enforcement Act (SAFE Act) last month.
The legislation seeks to beef up immigration enforcement in part by providing state and local governments the authority to enforce immigration laws, creating stricter repercussions for criminal aliens, expanding the Visa Security Program and granting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents a greater ability to make arrests.
Tuesday, in response to news that Goodlatte and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor have been working on legislation aimed at granting a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children, the president of the union representing U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officers and staff voiced concern about such a proposal.
“As you know the Obama Administration has already bypassed Congress to implement a version of the proposal you are now considering. Of course, to do so, the Administration had to simultaneously suspend laws previously passed by Congress. … What is to stop the Administration from simply issuing another round of non-enforcement orders (written or oral) that would eviscerate any attempted limitations in your bill?” National USCIS Council president Kenneth Palinkas wrote in a letter to Goodlatte, Cantor, Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, and Immigration and Border Security subcommittee Chairman Trey Gowdy.
Palinkas added that currently USCIS is “ill-equipped” to process “the sort of far-reaching plans before Congress right now” and called on House members to consult with USCIS agents about upcoming proposals.
According to Goodlatte, the SAFE Act will prevent the Obama administration and future administrations from ignoring immigration laws “by granting states and local governments the authority to enforce federal immigration laws.”
Goodlatte assured that any efforts toward legalization would maintain an enforcement-first approach.
“The Obama Administration has abused his executive power by refusing to enforce our immigration laws. The SAFE Act stops this from happening again,” he said. “Any legalization, including the kids bill being discussed, must follow the enforcement-first approach. Enforcement must be in place before any legalization.”