Biden Says No 'Red Card' for GOP on Immigration

Wall Street Journal

By Reid J. Epstein and Laura Meckler

June 26, 2014

Biden Says No ‘Red Card’ for GOP on Immigration 

A day after Congress’s biggest cheerleader for immigration legislation declared the effort dead, Vice President Joe Biden insisted it is still alive.

Mr. Biden told a gathering of a dozen people representing law enforcement, agriculture interests and religious communities that despite Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D., Ill.) showing a red card – soccer’s version of a being thrown out of the game – to House Republicans on immigration reform, the White House still thinks it a deal can be reached on Capitol Hill.

“We’re not giving them a red card and we’re still in this,” Mr. Biden said, according to Jenny Yang, the vice president for policy and advocacy for World Relief.

Mr. Biden delivered an immigration pep talk during the the two-hour Thursday afternoon session. He urged them to keep their efforts focused on Congress, which he said could still reach an immigration solution.

Jim Wallis, the president of the Christian social justice agency Sojourners, said Mr. Biden told the group the White House is “pushing and pushing and pushing” to get a deal through Congress this year.

“He basically said not to give up on them,” Ms. Yang said.

President Barack Obama, who has been dubbed the “deporter-in-chief” by critics, is under enormous pressure from immigration advocates to reduce the number of undocumented immigrants being sent away from the U.S. Mr. Obama in March announced that Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson would conduct a review to see what administrative actions the White House could take on immigration.

On Wednesday Mr. Gutierrez delivered a eulogy for immigration legislation on the House floor while holding a small red card like the ones shown by World Cup soccer referees.

“No one tried harder than I did to keep the two parties talking about how to move forward on immigration,” he said. “But months passed and Republicans turned their backs on their own members, turned their backs on the American people, turned their backs on the business community, on Latino and Asian voters, and on those trying to save the Republican Party from itself.”

Mr. Biden on Thursday acknowledged the outside pressure during the meeting and said it can only be sufficiently relieved by Congress.

“He said they’re getting a lot of pressure and the president understands the need for a legislative solution,” said Kristi Boswell of the American Farm Bureau. “What he repeated was that the red card that Gutierrez talked about isn’t up.”

Mr. Biden met last week in Guatemala with Central American leaders to talk about ways to stem the surge in minors making dangerous trips to the U.S. border.

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