Separation of immigrant families draws lawmakers, advocates to the border on Father's Day
MCALLEN, Texas — A group of lawmakers arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border on Father’s Day to “further investigate” a new policy separating immigrant families.Â
Sen. Jeff Merkley led the Democratic Senate and House members, including Rep. Peter Welch of Vermont; Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island; Rep. Mark Pocan of Wisconsin; Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, and Texas Reps. Vicente Gonzalez and Filemon Vela.Â
The trip follows Merkley’s attempt earlier this month to investigate the family separation policy. On that trip, he was barred from entering a children’s detention facility in Brownsville.
On Sunday, lawmakers planned to tour the Brownsville facility, as well as several other sites in the area that relate to the family separation policy. Those sites include one of the bridges where the administration is reportedly slow-walking entry for asylum seekers who are trying to legally enter the U.S.
Democratic members of Congress from New Jersey and New York on Sunday met with immigration detainees separated from children at the southwest border who are now being held at a New Jersey immigration facility.Â
House Speaker Paul Ryan plans to bring up two competing Republican immigration bills this week — and neither seems likely to pass.
The first GOP bill is a hardline measure that would cut legal immigration, strengthen border security, and provide temporary legal status to the so-called DREAMers, undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children. President Trump and conservative lawmakers back that proposal, but moderates do not. And it doesn’t have enough votes to pass the House.Â
The second bill is a “compromise” being crafted by GOP leaders and aimed at bridging the divide between the moderates and the conservatives. That bill is still under wraps, but conservatives are wary that it will go too far in granting what they see as “amnesty” to the DREAMers.
“Neither bill is going to pass next week,” Mark Krikorian predicted last week. Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which supports strict limits on immigration, said, “There clearly isn’t a consensus … and they’ll just move on to the farm bill or whatever the next thing is.”
Also in Texas on Sunday, families, advocates, and allies also held a vigil in front of the Ursula Border Patrol Processing Center in McAllen in support of all the children held inside without their parents on Father’s Day.
Organizations behind the effort include the National Domestic Workers Alliance, United We Dream, ACLU, America’s Voice, People’s Action, Women’s Refugee Commission, and Faith in Action.Â
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Contributing: Eliza Collins, USA TODAY. Follow Beatriz Alvarado on Twitter: @CallerBetty