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GOP focuses on immigration as border crossings rise
According to the Pew Research Centers, 18,945 family members and 9,297 unaccompanied children reached the U.S.-Mexico border in February, the Associated Press reported. Those figures represent 168% and 63% increases, respectively, from January.
In a recent interview with ABC President Joe Biden advised migrants hoping to gain entry to the United States not to leave their towns. When asked whether his immigration policies are encouraging migrants, Biden said that the numbers of people encountered at the southern border in the first two months of his administration remain lower than spikes recorded during the Trump administration.
Republicans are now uniting around the issue, a signature of Biden’s predecessor.
“If they don’t control this, it’ll be a huge issue this year, and it’s an issue that gets you into public health, into the issue of defending America and whether there are borders,” said Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a longtime Trump ally.
In a letter signed by 40 senators, Republicans have criticized the Biden administration’s border policies; among the criticisms are Biden’s kinder tones, his pledge to end family separations at the border, and the administration’s freezing of of Trump’s border wall project.
House OKs immigration bills for Dreamers, farm workers
Following a slew of executive orders centered on rolling back policies ranging from the Muslim travel ban to separating families at the border, Democrats in Congress voted last week to pass a proposal long known as the gateway to citizenship.
Lawmakers approved the bill offering legal status to 2 million people brought to the U.S. illegally as children, known as Dreamers, in a 228-197 vote Thursday. In a separate measure approved 247-174, lawmakers voted to create similar protections for 1 million farm workers who have worked in the U.S. without documentation.
