We're now in the home stretch. After agreeing to top-line budget figures, the House and Senate now need to come to an agreement on 12 different appropriations bills in order to keep the government. Without these spending packages, the government will shut down at the end of September.
That may seem like a long way away, but the fight over these bills is happening right now behind closed doors. Democrats and Republicans are trying to hammer out "compromises." Now, compromise doesn't have to be a dirty word. A compromise is supposed to mean both sides get some of what they want.
The problem is that Democrats have packed their demand list with some truly radical provisions. They have taken a chapter right out of Donald Trump's Art of the Deal: Ask for more than you want and settle for exactly what you want.
We see this playing out in the fight over the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act. This bill is at the top of the list because DHS is set to run out of funding before the end of the fiscal year. If Congress doesn't pass a new bill, ICE and Border Patrol will be shut down.
The House was supposed to vote on this bill last week. Leftists demanded that Pelosi pull the bill at the last minute and she agreed.
The Democrat Party is now holding our national security hostage in order to further their illegal alien agenda!
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives held a vote on H.R.3239, the Humanitarian Standards for individuals in Customs and Border Protection Custody Act. Do not let the positive-sounding name fool you. This legislation is designed to sneak provisions through in order to make it impossible for ICE or Border Patrol to actually detain illegal immigrants.
Right off the bat, the bill restarts Obama's catch-and-release policy, stating that that illegal alien "family units" must be kept together. This is important because the government is only allowed to detain children for 20 days before they have to be released. Under this provision, any illegal alien who showed up to the border with a child in-tow would have to be released too in order to 'keep the family together.' Border Patrol is already catching fake families. Smugglers are abducting children because they know it will get them released. This one provision will make it worse by codifying catch-and-release into law.
But the bill goes even further. The next section states that "no detainee shall be placed in a room for any period of time if the detainee's placement would exceed the maximum occupancy level as determined by the appropriate building code, fire marshal, or other authority." This is specifically designed to eliminate ICE's ability to handle border surges.
This provision would give local authorities like the fire marshal the power to dictate how many illegal aliens ICE is allowed to detain. Just think about this for a second. The Left tried and failed to limit detention centers by removing "bed" funding. Now, they want to place a hard cap on ICE detentions using local fire codes. Now, you might think that this provision means well. But Congress is also blocking Trump from building new detention facilities. The result is that when there is a border surge, illegal aliens will have to be released.
Now, this is just some of what is in the bill. Democrats voted on HR 3239 as a stand-alone bill in order to test support. Every Democrat (and one Republican) voted for it. Their ultimate goal is to slip this into the funding bill to force the administration to release thousands more illegal aliens every month. But they aren't stopping there. Democrats are also pushing amendments to slash ICE's deportation funding, block the President from hiring new border agents or immigration judges, and eliminate ICE's power to use "discretionary" funds to deal with surges
The Left's goal in all of this is to prevent ICE from doing its job. That means blocking ICE from detaining illegal aliens who cross the border and preventing them from re-apprehending illegal aliens who flee justice and are hiding in our communities.
We have been fighting tooth and nail to stop the Republicans from caving to the Left's amnesty demands. With your help, we have kept their amnesty/citizenship bill at bay. But now, we are seeing Democrats changing their tactics. Instead of legalizing the illegal aliens in the country, these provisions are designed to block Trump from enforcing the immigration laws against them. But the result is the same: Illegal aliens get to stay in the country and Trump would be powerless to deport them.
This is why Nancy Pelosi pulled the Homeland Security funding bill last week. These are the Left's demands. And it is up to YOU to stop them!
There is a reason that the US government doesn't negotiate with hostage takers. As soon as you meet one of their demands, more terrorists will pop up thinking they can get paid.
Well, right now Democrats are holding our national security hostage. They are threatening to shut down ICE and Border Patrol if Republicans do not agree to their demands.
And the Spineless GOPers are actually negotiating with them...
Don't let them cave!
Joe Otto
Conservative Daily
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