CHC Chair Statement on Mass Deportation Act
January 23, 2018
Washington, D.C. – Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) Chairwoman Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham released the following statement in reaction to reports that conservative House members received a pledge from House Republican leadership to push H.R. 4760, a hard-line Republican-only immigration bill:
"The Mass Deportation Act is a farce of a bill. The bill undermines local law enforcement, it hurts farmers, hurts families, guts legal immigration; and aims to rip apart communities through mass deportation, while only providing Dreamers with temporary protections and no pathway to citizenship. This deeply partisan, anti-immigrant bill was written by a group of Republicans with no bipartisan input or support.
"Instead of supporting the numerous introduced bipartisan bills that reflect our shared values, House Republican Leaders and this Administration are more interested in pushing partisan, poison-pill legislation that sabotage efforts toward sensible, meaningful legislative protections for Dreamers. If Speaker Ryan is serious about getting the 218 votes he needs to pass critical legislation for Dreamers, then he must support truly bipartisan legislation.
"I call on Members to reject this disingenuous effort. The urgency, terror, and negative effects felt by thousands of Dreamers who are losing their jobs, ability to go to school and meaningfully contribute to their communities is detrimental to our social fabric and economy. This situation will only get worse each day Congress delays genuine, bipartisan progress. Congressional Republican leaders have the power, ability, and votes to pass a solution – they simply lack the will to do so.
"I call on them to release Dreamers from this cruel uncertainty and do what the majority of Americans want them to do – protect Dreamers now."
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The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), founded in December 1976, is organized as a Congressional Member organization, governed under the Rules of the U.S. House of Representatives. The CHC is dedicated to voicing and advancing, through the legislative process, issues affecting Hispanics in the United States, Puerto Rico and U.S. Territories.