WASHINGTON (AP) – Democrats in particular have fallen into a political crisis Divided into immigration and border securityAfter their thorough defeat in the presidential election last year Donald Trump Hardline immigration actions were the center of his campaign.
That could be changing.
From New York to California, Democrats have spoken more about their immigration plans and show up in Detention Center Monitor conditions and sometimes confront immigrants and customs enforcement officers. It’s shining the spotlight Trump’s agenda to deport millions of peoplesuggests that democratic lawmakers are encouraged to push back. Still, they have a way to go before they can advance their unified agenda.
But their actions show how the ground is changing in the American immigration debate. From border policies to questions about the future of millions of people in a country that has no permanent legal status.
“Are there any openings for Democrats? Yeah,” Sen. Henry Culler, a Texas Democrat who has been pushing his party for years to emphasize border security, told The Associated Press. “We’re saying we’re strong in border security, we’re focusing on criminals and so on, but don’t deport people with good records.”
Democrats are increasing visits to detention centers
All over the country, Democrats appeared in immigration detention centers, sometimes without notice, to confirm reports of unsanitary and unsafe conditions and to draw attention to the actions of the Trump administration. Congressional Democrats sued The Department of Homeland Security says it has the right to do so under federal law by blocking unannounced site visits.
“Issues of transparency, surveillance, accountability,” Rep. Joe Negas said earlier this month after he and other Colorado Democrats visited a detention center in Aurora, near Denver. “We can certainly see Democrats in the Colorado home delegation leaning towards all sides.”
It’s a shift in focus for some within Democrats, even from the beginning of the year when many lawmakers argued that the party needed a new approach to immigration, which emphasized stronger enforcement. Some Democrats helped move forward Several Republican bills targeting immigrants accused of crimes.
However, Republican presidents’ efforts to expel the country have risen this year. People with no criminal history Those caught up in enthusiasm to eliminate non-citizens have begun to mobilize Democrats.
“A hardworking middle-class individual – just trying to win America’s dream,” said Rep. Lou Correa, a California Democrat. Alejandro Barancoa US Marine Corps veteran whose father was arrested by an agent in the US Border Patrol in Southern California, where he lived for decades.
Baranco was on the Capitol for a July event hosted by Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee.
Republicans hold companies even as public opinion changes
Still, Republicans believe they have an advantage in immigration debate. They have already pointed out Trump’s success in deterring immigration From coming to the US border with Mexico.
“We’ve never seen anything like this as we saw under President Biden and the Democrats. Just to see everything that turned around after the election. Now it’s one of the safest southern borders for many years.”
Daines accused Democrats of “there are no helms, they’re out of ideas, and the ideas they have don’t touch on where I think most Americans are, especially hardworking middle-class Americans and our Hispanic community.”
However, there are indications that public support is slipping due to Trump’s approach. an AP-NORC Civil Service Research Center It was found in July that only 43% of US adults said they had approved his handling of immigrants. I supported his work on this issue I’ll be back in March.
a Voting from Gallup It turns out to have been widely circulated among Democrats that month. Eight in 10 Americans said immigration is a “good thing” for the country, up from 64% a year ago, a high trend in nearly 25 years.
“I think the American people are looking at this administration for what it is,” said Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat.
“It’s not just targeting dangerous and violent criminals. The vast majority of people arrested, detained and deported, many have no due process, and no criminal convictions or a violent history,” he added. “They are actually people who the first Trump administration designated as essential at the beginning of the community’s pandemic, so the cruel irony is not lost to people.”
There is still a consensus search
Democrats are trying to seize the moment with a surge in immigration proposals. Broadly, the proposal separates from policies that have allowed a large number of migrants to enter the country, including asylum and temporary protected status, in support of expanding visas and other legal immigration measures.
The Center for Progress in America, a liberal policy organisation, has released an immigration framework that begins with an order to protect America’s security. The new Democrats coalition, a moderate group of more than 100 House Democrats, has also announced plans to call for enhanced border security while “expanding safe and legal paths for immigration.”
“What we really have to do is fix the broken immigration system overall. That doesn’t mean we can’t do border security,” Sen. Reuben Gallego, a Democrat from Arizona, told City Hall this month. “We have an intersection with almost zero, and I think that should give the president credit for that, but why not use this opportunity to pass immigration reform?”
Gallego, who? He won the Arizona Senate seat last year Trump also carried the nationhas announced plans to tighten restrictions on asylum and require other countries in the region to accept asylum seekers.
Meanwhile, Congressional Democratic leaders are still shaping their own plans as they try to beat more liberal members who are concerned about changing the asylum system.
Other Democrats are looking for more immediate ways to support immigrants who have been in the country for years but are facing new uncertain realities under the Trump administration.
Padilla said he hopes Republicans can reach behind his laws that open the way for green cards to people in the country Deferred behavior for childhood arrival programsor DACA, and other people who have lived in this country for at least seven years.
He said Republicans are beginning to hear public backlash against the Trump administration’s handling of deportation.
