Fort Worth area House Republicans vote against pathway to citizenship for ‘Dreamers’

Fort Worth area House Republicans, saying that the United States cannot overlook those who broke the law, voted against a Democratic-authored bill that would provide a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as minors.

The House passed the American Dream and Promise Act on Thursday on a 228-197 vote. Nine Republicans joined Democrats to vote for the bill.

The bill would cancel and prohibit removal proceedings against millions of immigrants known as “Dreamers” and provide them with a path toward permanent resident status.

Reps. Michael Burgess, Beth Van Duyne, Roger Williams and Kay Granger questioned providing citizenship to those who broke the law in order to enter the country.

Burgess and Van Duyne said they will also vote against the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which would establish a path to citizenship for immigrant agricultural workers.

Williams and Granger haven’t commented specifically about the legislation this week, but have used the same reasoning as their Republican colleagues: Undocumented immigrants shouldn’t be legalized when there are documented immigrants waiting to become citizens and policies such as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals “motivate immigrants to come to the United States illegally.”

With 104,820 active recipients, Texas has one of the highest number of DACA beneficiaries, often referred to as “Dreamers.”

DACA was created in 2012 under the Obama administration and defers deportation proceedings for those brought into the country unlawfully by their parents when they were children under 16.

All of the Fort Worth area House Republicans said they have issues with undocumented immigrants becoming citizens.

“These bills [are] taking people who have committed a crime, putting them at the top of the line to be able to get in line for citizenship or for legal status in front of everybody who has done it the correct way,” Van Duyne said Thursday on C-SPAN. “We create laws, we enforce laws, until we don’t.”

Representatives said they were also afraid that these laws would encourage illegal immigration, especially when border apprehensions have been increasing for 10 consecutive months, according to Pew Research Center.

“Putting forward legislation such as [these laws] will only incentivize the breaking of our laws,” Burgess wrote on Twitter on Thursday.

Williams said that laws created under the Biden administration were “asking people to break the law.”

“[Biden] inherited a situation where immigration was slowed down. People began to understand that they had to do it the right way if they came to Texas or came to America,” Williams said Thursday on KBEY radio.

However, border apprehensions began rising in April 2020 under the Trump administration, according to Pew Research Center.

The Republicans said that legalizing undocumented immigrants would be a dangerous addition to American communities.

“When we have 4,000 to 5,000 people rushing our border on a daily basis, people coming into our neighborhood, drug cartels coming over, folks who are human trafficking, using women and children as victims and sex trafficking as well,” Van Duyne said Thursday. “These are coming into our country.”

Democrat Marc Veasey supported the bill.

“We need a holistic approach to this problem — voters overwhelmingly support a path to citizenship, reforms to our immigration system, and smart management of our border,” Veasy said Wednesday. “Here in Texas, immigrants play a vital role in our local economies and communities.”

Seventy-four percent of Americans are in favor of a law that would provide permanent legal status to immigrants who entered the United States illegally as children, while 24% are opposed, according to Pew Research Center.

Veasey agreed with his Republican colleagues that illegal immigration cannot be the standard.

“We also need to clearly communicate to migrants fleeing their countries that they must follow the process to immigrate to the United States legally,” he said Wednesday.

This story was originally published March 18, 2021 at 6:05 PM with the headline "Fort Worth area House Republicans vote against pathway to citizenship for ‘Dreamers’."