Politics

Immigration Opponents Trash GOP Border Security Bill

REUTERS

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Will Racke Immigration and Foreign Policy Reporter
Font Size:

Immigration hard-liners say a proposed border security bill from Republican lawmakers doesn’t do nearly enough to address systemic flaws in the U.S. immigration system.

The draft legislation from Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn and Texas GOP Rep. Michael McCaul calls for more detention space and immigration judges on the border to speed up deportations, as well as heavier criminal penalties for illegal aliens who return after being removed.

But advocates of tougher immigration enforcement who’ve seen the draft say it does nothing to address certain problems on the border and in the interior of the country. The bill doesn’t provide for President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall, penalize businesses that hire illegal immigrants, or mandate the employment verification system E-Verify, reports the Washington Post.

Without those provisions, the law won’t reduce incentives for illegal immigrants to come to the U.S. in the first place, says Jessica Vaughn, the director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies.

“There’s not a single thing about work-site enforcement or anything at all against employers,” Vaughan told the Washington Post, “It’s tinkering around the margins.”

Cornyn and McCaul’s proposal comes as many of Trump’s executive orders to crack down on illegal immigration and sanctuary cities are held up in federal courts. The bill seeks expand the sources of funding that could be withheld from cities and states that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. It would also provide a legislative remedy to a California judge’s ruling that only Congress, and not the president, can place conditions on federal funds. (RELATED: President Trump Said He Will Defund Sanctuary Cities. It’s Unclear How It Will Get Done.)

Both of the bill’s sponsors have downplayed the need for a barrier along the entire U.S-Mexico border, which is the centerpiece of Trump’s border security strategy and a top item on immigration hawks’ wish list. Cornyn said in April that “there’s parts of our border which it [the wall] makes no sense” and that when Trump talks about a wall, “he’s speaking metaphorically.”

Robert Law, director of government relations for the Federation For American Immigration Reform, says the lack of commitment to the border wall means Congress “keeps missing the mark” on immigration enforcement.

“It’s the same failed attempt every single Congress,” Law told WaPo. “New Congress, and nothing changes in actually securing the border.”

Follow Will on Twitter

Send tips to will@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel