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Eli Kantor is a labor, employment and immigration law attorney. He has been practicing labor, employment and immigration law for more than 36 years. He has been featured in articles about labor, employment and immigration law in the L.A. Times, Business Week.com and Daily Variety. He is a regular columnist for the Daily Journal. Telephone (310)274-8216; eli@elikantorlaw.com. For more information, visit beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com and and beverlyhillsemploymentlaw.com

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Wednesday, July 30, 2014

House G.O.P. Plan on Border Crisis Is Well Short of What Obama Seeks

New York Times
By Ashley Parker
July 29, 2014

WASHINGTON — House Republicans on Tuesday unveiled their plan to stem the surge of undocumented child migrants from Central America at the southern border, proposing to spend $659 million — well short of the $3.7 billion President Obama seeks — to ease the humanitarian crisis after weeks of internal divisions and just days before Congress adjourns for its five-week August break.

The legislation, on which Republicans hope to hold a vote on Thursday, comes in response to Mr. Obama’s request this month for emergency supplemental funds to address the situation at the border, and it would also allocate far less than the Senate Democrats’ $2.7 billion plan.

The bill is largely intended to help Republicans save political face before returning home for the recess. “Frankly, we need to show that we can act and act thoughtfully, responsibly and quickly, and frankly clean up the mess that the administration has created,” said Representative Tom Cole, Republican of Oklahoma.

If the House passes its bill, some Senate Democrats are considering attaching a broad bipartisan immigration bill, which passed the Senate in June 2013 and includes a path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country, to the package and sending it back to the House.

Such a move would inflame tensions among Republicans who are already distrustful of Mr. Obama and the Senate, and could make it all but impossible for the House Republican leadership to rally its conference to support even modest changes to help at the border.

“Senate Democrats are open to conferencing the House package with the bipartisan, comprehensive reform bill that passed the Senate last year,” said a senior Democratic aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a delicate topic.

It is unlikely that Democrats would be able to pass such a measure, and not even Republicans who had supported an immigration overhaul would be likely to vote for it.

At its core, the Republican plan would change a 2008 law intended to combat human trafficking, allowing the authorities to more quickly deport the Central American children to their home countries. The legislation, which would provide funding through the 2014 fiscal year at the end of September, also calls for increasing the National Guard presence at the southern border, increasing the number of immigration judges in order to expedite court proceedings, and allowing the Border Patrol onto national park and monument land along the border.

Speaker John A. Boehner had acknowledged that Republicans could pay a hefty political price if they returned to their districts in August without having at least put forth their own alternative to handle the crisis at the border. The final bill that Republicans proposed is lower than their initial plan of about $1.5 billion. “I think there’s sufficient support in the House to move this bill,” Mr. Boehner said. “I think we should do something before we go home, and we’re working to get there.”

But Representative Mo Brooks, Republican of Alabama, was among those wary of the plan. “As of right now, I’m not going to support it unless I have assurances that if it comes back from the Senate, we will not consider it unless it is actually going to address the border issue in a constructive way, and amnesty and open borders is not a constructive way,” he said. “To me, the laws that are on the books are already adequate. What we need is a president who will obey them. It really is that simple.”

Mr. Boehner may need to pick up at least a few Democratic votes to pass his bill, but both Senate and House Democrats are increasingly opposed to any changes to the 2008 law. The Senate bill does not make any changes to the 2008 law.

But as of Tuesday morning, many Republicans were rallying behind their leadership’s proposal.

“I think it will pass with almost all of the Republicans, and I think the Democrats don’t want to go home and face their constituents not having dealt with this,” said Representative Blake Farenthold, Republican of Texas.

Other Republicans have called on Mr. Boehner to hold a separate vote to peel back Mr. Obama’s 2012 executive order that allows the young undocumented immigrants known as “Dreamers” to remain in the country without the threat of deportation. Such a vote is unlikely before the recess — something Representative Bill Flores, Republican of Texas, called “one area of disappointment that I have.”

“I keep pressing our leadership to at least have a separate vote on that, so we can let the American people know where we stand on the president’s overreach,” Mr. Flores said. “They’ve been mum about it.”

Mr. Flores will, however, support the final bill, he said. “Again, I think the president created this mess, so I don’t think we necessarily have to clean it up, but on the other hand I think politically it would have been difficult to leave it out there,” he said.

Immigration advocates were quick to criticize the Republican plan. Ali Noorani, the executive director of the National Immigration Forum, warned that “half a loaf may actually be worse than no loaf at all.”

“What this crisis needs is policy that aligns with our better nature and responds to children and families compassionately,” he said. “This bill would reduce protections for vulnerable people fleeing desperate circumstances. Rather than meet them with open hearts and a clear, fair process, this bill meets them with National Guard troops.”


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