Amnesty Advocates Defeated in Budget Battle, But Promise Rematch in January

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Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images
Neil Munro

Amnesty advocates lamented their defeat in the Christmas budget fight but promised to win the next 2018 budget showdown, due by January 19.

The defeat prompted angry accusations by illegals and by Latino politicians, a shouting match with Democratic leader Sen. Chuck Schumer, renewed predictions of 2018 amnesty victory by business groups, and warnings from American voters that the battle will be refought in January.

The failure by the amnesty groups reflects the deep unpopularity of the Democrats’ s expensive, one-sided, no-strings DREAM Act amnesty, which offered no benefits whatsoever to the 300 million Americans already reeling from the impact of the federal government’s mass-immigration economic policy.

Also, top GOP leaders — including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, but especially President Donald Trump — recognized public opinion, exposed the Democrats’ amnesty-or-shutdown bluff and won a clear budget victory for the GOP.

Schumer, the Democrats’ Senate leader, also recognized the public opposes an amnesty and so he rebuffed last-minute lobbying by Latino politicians for a Senate filibuster.

Democrats started the budget debate by demanding a no-strings amnesty for 3.25 million younger ‘dreamer’ illegals — which includes the roughly 690,000 DACA illegals — plus a future amnesty for their illegal-immigrant parents and their chain-migration relatives. Americans would have to pay for the amnesty with $26 billion in taxes over the first ten years, plus extra diversity conflict, lower wages and more competition for jobs.

Throughout the two-month fight for the “clean DREAM Act,” Schumer kept his distance from activist threats to shut down the government if the GOP rejected an amnesty.

Schumer’s caution may be explained by his support for the disastrous 2013 “Gang of Eight” amnesty. That one-sided amnesty passed the Senate — but was blocked by polls and by House Speaker John Boehner. The next year, Schumer lost nine seats in the Senate, ensuring he lost his chance to become the Senate’s Majority Leader. And one year later in 2015, Donald Trump launched his run for presidency with a promise to make immigration work for Americans, not just for CEOs, ethnic lobbies and immigrants.

According to the Washington Post, the visit to Schumer by the Latino politicians turned into a shouting match:

Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.) — arguably the most outspoken Democrat on immigration matters — spoke next and unloaded on Schumer, accusing him and Democratic senators of not caring about the fate of dreamers and “throwing them under the bus” in the ongoing spending debate with Republicans, participants said.

In response, Schumer raised his voice, telling Gutiérrez not to insult fellow Democrats …

Rep. Tony Cárdenas (D-Calif.), who represents parts of Los Angeles and oversees the PAC that helps bankroll the campaigns of Latino congressional candidates, told Schumer that Latino lawmakers expect “no more mañanas” — no more “tomorrows” — when it comes to immigration.

In response to the Hispanic caucus’ filibuster request, Schumer allowed 28 Democratic Senators to vote against the budget. That was 13 fewer Senators than what was needed to block the temporary budget deal.

Hispanic politicians would gain from the arrival of more Hispanic voters, but other Democratic politicians fear a hostile public reaction in November 2018. The budget-showdown defeat was recognized by the leading Hispanic advocate for amnesty, Gutierrez:

 

The business-funded Silicon Valley lobby, titled FWD.us, also promised to fight again for an amnesty in January.

 

The investors’ group said the defeat was “incredibly difficult and disappointing.”

 

Business groups and Democrats tout the misleading, industry-funded “nation of immigrants” polls which pressure Americans to say they welcome migrants. The alternative “fairness” polls show that voters put a much higher priority on helping their families, neighbors, and fellow nationals get decent jobs in a high-tech, high-immigration, low-wage economy.

Those skewed polls were also touted by Schumer’s top deputy, Democratic Sen. Rick Durbin:

 

The billionaire investors who run FWD.us — including Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates — are backing a no-strings DACA amnesty trying to increase the flow of low-wage college graduates into the United States. By passing a no-strings DACA amnesty, FWD.us’ investors hope to prevent President Donald Trump from trading a DACA amnesty in exchange for deep cuts in immigration numbers.

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The pro-amnesty business groups are supported by some Republicans, including 34 Republican House legislators who signed a vague-but-supportive letter on December 5. The Gang of 34 includes Rep. Carlos Curbelo, who pushed hard in public for a no-strings amnesty, and who claimed on Thursday that he nearly had enough pro-amnesty GOP legislators to issue their own amnesty-of-shutdown threat:

 

The 34 GOP legislators who signed the failed amnesty request were:

Rep. Mike Coffman (CO-6), Rep. Carlos Curbelo (FL-26), Rep. Illeana Ros-Lehtinen (FL-27), Rep. Jeff Denham (CA-10), Rep. Mimi Walters (CA-45), Rep. David Valadao (CA-21),, Rep. Mike Simpson (ID-2), Rep. Adam Kinzinger (IL-16), Rep. Rodney Davis (IL-13), Rep. Susan Brooks (IN-5), Rep. Bruce Poliquin (ME-2), Rep. Fred Upton (MI-6), Rep. Leonard Lance (NJ-7), Rep. Frank Lo??Biando (NJ-2), Rep. Tom MacArthur (NJ-3), Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-4), Rep. Elise Stefanik (NY-21), Rep. John Faso (NY-19), Rep. John Katko (NY-24), Rep. Peter King (NY-2), Rep. Mark Amodei (NV-2), Rep. Glenn T. Thompson (PA-5), Rep. Ryan Costello (PA-6), Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-8), Rep. Charles Dent (PA-15), Rep. Pat Meehan (PA-7), Rep. Joe Barton (TX-6), Rep. Will Hurd (TX-23), Rep. Mia Love (UT-4), Rep. Chris Stewart (UT-2), Rep. Scott Taylor (VA-2), Rep. Dave Reichert (WA-8), and Rep. Dan Newhouse(WA-4).

The defeat also ensured finger-pointing between the Democratic leadership and their Latino ethnic lobbies.

An organizer with the union-backed United We Dream Coalition described Democrats as voting for “garbage.”

 

A pro-migration advocacy group complained that the illegals were ignored by Democrats.

 

The UWD group promised more aggressive confrontations in January:

 

Senate Democrats who recognize the unpopularity of amnesty were described as members of the deportation caucus.

 

The aggressive pro-amnesty protests were welcomed by Mark Krikorian, the director of the Center for Immigration Studies, who predicts they will solidify public and politicians’ opposition to angry illegals.

 

Likely 2020 presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren touted her vote against the amnesty-free budget, saying:

 

California’s Sen. Diane Feinstein, whose electorate is increasingly Hispanic, announced she would publicly align with the amnesty push:

 

Pro-American voters used their Twitter account to celebrate the win, and also to warn GOP legislators against a January surrender.

 

The pro-American groups which organized the pushback also claimed victory — but also warned of more fights.

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