Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) members decided to not allow a Republican Hispanic congressman join their ranks Thursday, following a lengthy debate on the issue.
The CHC noted that GOP Rep. Carlos Curbelo would not be able to join the group after all because his values did not coincide with those of the caucus, a spokesman said Thursday.
“After due consideration, the CHC determined not to accept Rep. Curbelo’s request to join the caucus. The CHC isn’t just an organization for Hispanics; it is a Caucus that represents certain values. This vote reflects the position of many of our members that Rep. Curbelo and his record are not consistent with those values,” spokesman Carlos Paz Jr. said.
The group spent weeks trying to decide whether to admit Curbelo, who represents a majority Latin district in Miami. Some group members were angered over Curbelo’s refusal to stand by the Dream Act, which would provide an eventual path to citizenship for DACA recipients and, potentially, millions of similar illegal immigrants. CHC members were also put off by Curbelo’s alleged insinuation that CHC leader Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham could not speak Spanish properly.
“I find highly offensive his remarks that Michelle Lujan Grisham should not be the chair because she doesn’t speak Spanish,” Rep. Linda Sánchez said previously.
Curbelo is arguably one of the most pro-amnesty Republicans, having proposed his own version of the Dream Act that would allow minors brought to the country illegally before the age of 16 and before Jan. 1, 2012 to have a path to become citizens of the country.
“We also are encouraged by numerous comments that the president has made in public about his desire to treat these young Americans, as I would call them, with the compassion and the respect they’ve earned,” Curbelo told the Miami Herald previously.
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