Using Reconciliation To Ram Through Amnesty: A Bad Means To A Bad End

The Democrats are attempting to push through a massive amnesty, on a purely partisan basis, as part of a $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation proposal. And they are doing so in the middle of a historic illegal migration crisis at our southern border which the Biden-Harris administration has so far failed to take seriously, let alone fix.

According to The Hill, “a budget reconciliation bill would not include immigration reform per se, the current Democratic proposal includes funding to grant a path to citizenship” for “ up to 10 million people,” including illegal aliens benefitting from or eligible for the unconstitutional Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, the beneficiaries of Temporary Protected Status (TPS), farmworkers, and so-called “essential workers.”

Using the reconciliation process would allow the Democrats to pass the amnesty without the need to secure any Republican support in the Senate. In other words, the GOP – as the minority party would not be able to use the filibuster to block the budget and the harmful immigration agenda it contains.

This is basically a sneaky way to ram through an amnesty without bringing a lot of attention to it. The Biden-Harris administration and the Democrats are obviously hoping that Americans don’t notice, which is in itself an insult to the intelligence of “we the people.”

Of course, granting not only “legalization” – but eventually also U.S. citizenship – to approximately 10 million people (two-thirds of the current total illegal alien population, according to FAIR’s research) is something that will impact every aspect of American society.

The American people deserve a serious and honest debate, not deception and dirty political tricks. And something as impactful and far-reaching as mass amnesty should not be passed on a narrow, partisan basis – particularly when the governing party pushing this irresponsible proposal has such razor-thin margins in the House and Senate. Moreover, riding roughshod over the opposition of the majority of Americans to mass amnesty – including in key “swing” states – is a slap in the face of many Americans.

Unlike the proponents of this mass amnesty, the American people seem to understand that amnesty is a bad and harmful policy. That is because:

  • It grants something as precious as American citizenship to people whose first interaction with our nation was to break our laws and violate our borders. In fact, it condones such behavior.
  • Moreover, these new citizens will – as voters – have an impact on our elections and government policy, perhaps even granting one party a permanent majority for the foreseeable future, thereby undermining political pluralism and competition.
  • It will encourage more illegal migration in the future in the hopes of benefiting from yet another amnesty. Remember: the 1986 amnesty – which was far more modest than the Democrats’ current amnesty proposal – was a colossal and naïve failure as the illegal alien population increased almost fivefold since its passage. Why would things be any different now?
  • It is unfair to legal immigrants who respected our laws and followed the rules.
  • It will increase job competition in the legal workforce while our economy is still in recovery following damage inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Last but not least, as we emphasized before, ramming through an amnesty in the midst of an out-of-control border crisis is like pouring gasoline on a raging fire.

The bottom line is that, as Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) put it: “Granting amnesty, citizenship, voting rights, and welfare for millions of illegal aliens is not just a simple ‘budget’ item.” Its impact will be felt far and wide, and it may last for generations.