Key Points
- Democrats continue to try and sneak immigration reforms into Build Back Better.
- Some job and deportation protections made it into the bill, which is now with the Senate.
- The reforms also offers the Child Tax Credit to illegal aliens – no Social Security number required.
Twice Democrats have tried to tack immigration reform on to President Biden’s trillion-dollar Build Back Better budget buster, and twice they’ve failed. But they are persistent. Some immigration provisions did sneak through the House and are now tied up in the Senate.
Is the third time the charm? Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough may have something to say about it. MacDonough has already ruled that the reconciliation bill cannot grant legal status or citizenship to immigrants. Now she will weigh in on temporary work and deportation protections that would allow some undocumented people to change their status.
Some outlets are calling the protections “amnesty lite.”
“The CBO estimates that 6.5 million aliens would receive parole (“amnesty lite”, if you will), making them eligible for various tax credits and welfare,” the Center for Immigration Studies says. “Within this population…3 million aliens will obtain [lawful permanent resident] status (amnesty premium) and a path to U.S. citizenship by virtue of first obtaining parole.”
Democrats also want to extend the Child Tax Credit to illegal aliens – eliminating the Social Security number requirement. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, illegal aliens will receive $10.5 billion from the Child Tax Credit since the bill drops the requirement that the child have a Social Security number.”
That’s $10.5 billion in taxpayer money.
The pushback is already significant, with more people objecting than just the Senate parliamentarian. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy says, “Democrats are responsible for causing the worst crisis at our southern border we have seen in two decades. And instead of listening to the individuals and communities who are speaking out about how this is negatively impacting their families, Democrats want to worsen the already dire situation by incentivizing even more illegal immigration.”
But it’s not McCarthy Democrats have to worry about; the bill is already out of the House. But an old familiar face could spell trouble for Democrats in the Senate: Joe Manchin.
“I’m not going to vote to overrule the parliamentarian,” Manchin said. “For us to even be talking about immigration without border security is ludicrous.”
Manchin also worries about the message the reforms send to illegal immigrants. “[If they] get all the different benefits that people, the citizens of America get, are entitled to, they’re going to continue to come.”
Get a message out to Democratic leadership: this is not the way to do immigration reform. This only exacerbates an already terrible humanitarian crisis.
