Vulnerable House Democrats, many of whom are facing tough re-elections next year, helped pass the “largest amnesty in American history” out of the House, experts say.
On Friday, House Democrats passed President Joe Biden’s $1.75 trillion “Build Back Better Act,” which includes an amnesty for about seven million illegal aliens while expanding legal immigration to the United States.
“At a time when unpopular Biden administration policies have sparked the greatest surge in illegal immigration in American history, the razor-thin Democratic majority in the House is rewarding illegal behavior and encouraging even more of it,” Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) President Dan Stein said in a statement.
“It is a shameless effort on the part of the White House and Democratic leadership to enact radical immigration policy changes through budget reconciliation that could never be approved on their own merits,” Stein said.
Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME), who won his seat in 2020 by less than 23,000 votes, was the only Democrat to join House Republicans against the plan.
The vulnerable House Democrats who voted for the plan are:
- Tom Malinowski (D-NJ)
- Lauren Underwood (D-IL)
- Cindy Axne (D-IA)
- Abigail Spanberger (D-VA)
- Vicente Gonzalez Jr. (D-TX)
- Angie Craig (D-MN)
- Conor Lamb (D-PA)
- Carolyn Bourdeaux (D-GA)
- Ron Kind (D-WI)
- Lizzie Pannill Fletcher (D-TX)
- Haley Stevens (D-MI)
- Tom O’Halleran (D-AZ)
- Cheri Bustos (D-IL)
- Matt Cartwright (D-PA)
- Jimmy Gomez (D-CA)
- Susie Lee (D-NV)
- Susan Wild (D-PA)
- Kim Schrier (D-WA)
- Elissa Slotkin (D-MI)
- Steven Horsford (D-NV)
- Chris Pappas (D-NH)
- Colin Allred (D-TX)
- Elaine Luria (D-VA)
- Mike Levin (D-CA)
- Charlie Crist (D-FL)
- Peter DeFazio (D-OR)
- Tim Ryan (D-OH)
The amnesty provisions in the filibuster-proof reconciliation package, which only needs majority support in the Senate, have been reviewed by the Senate Parliamentarian a number of times.
Democrats’ latest amnesty provisions, along with expansions to legal immigration levels, would cost American taxpayers about $122 billion over the course of a decade. Specifically, the amnesty would allow millions of illegal aliens to secure parole to stay in the U.S. Millions of other foreign nationals would be given green cards.
Illegal aliens who can prove they have resided in the U.S. for ten years will be able to obtain work permits, driver’s licenses, and documents to travel abroad for at least a decade. In addition, millions of foreign visa workers and chain migrants, those who are the relatives of naturalized American citizens, would benefit from the plan.
For corporations, the reconciliation package is a boon.
The plan allows companies to import a limitless number of legal immigrants on employment-based green cards for at least a decade. Eventually, the green card holders can apply for naturalized American citizenship.
Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) has pleaded with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, to oppose the plan on the grounds that it will disadvantage the nation’s working and middle class who will be forced to compete for U.S. jobs against a growing population of cheaper, foreign workers.
“These provisions will allow Facebook, Microsoft, Google, and numerous other technology companies across America to employ a functionally limitless supply of cheaper foreign labor in place of willing, able, and qualified American workers,” Hagerty has written.
Every year, 1.2 million legal immigrants receive green cards to permanently resettle in the U.S. In addition, 1.4 million foreign nationals are given visas to take American jobs. On top of legal immigration levels, federal officials expect that more than two million illegal aliens will have tried to cross into the U.S., many successfully, in the last year.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
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