Security Before Amnesty, Conservative House Members Urge

Conservative House members are concerned the Senate GOP’s plans to replace the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy will cater toward Democrat desires and ignore the root of the issue: border security.

House members met with the press Tuesday at the monthly “Conversations With Conservatives” panel on Capitol Hill. They discussed the Senate GOP’s focus on a deal to shield recipients of DACA, the immigration policy implemented by then-President Barack Obama to protect “Dreamers”—illegal immigrants brought into the U.S. as minors—from deportation.

Rep. Dave Brat, R-Va., said he wished the GOP wouldn’t cave in to the interests of Democrats.

“It’s a crazy world up here in the bubble,” Brat said, “where the Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House, and the only piece we’re working on with respect to immigration is the wish list of the Democrats. It’s an upside-down world.”

He emphasized a need for a “permanent solution that deals with sealing our border” before tackling ways to provide amnesty.

Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., chairman of the Republican Study Committee, said his survey of that largest House GOP caucus found that most members said border security should be a priority in immigration reform. 

“Eighty-three percent of the RSC believe that border security is a precursor to any kind of long-term DACA fix,”  Walker said. “I think we’ve been consistent on that from the beginning.”

Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., agreed that the Senate needs to create a permanent solution. Perry said providing protection to “Dreamers” without providing security to prevent more of them from appearing is like “a nail sticking up [through] your floor and you put the nail through your foot, and you go back to the doctor to fix the hole in your foot, but leave the nail there.”

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said the Republican Party is not earning its voters’ trust.

“We haven’t cut taxes yet, we haven’t repealed Obamacare yet, we haven’t constructed a border security wall yet, but ‘Oh, by the way, we’re going to do amnesty’? This makes no sense,” Jordan said.

He added that if the GOP wants the people to take them seriously, lawmakers need to crack down on border security and block funding from sanctuary cities.