Immigration

Jared’s Immigrantion Plan is Probably Dead on Arrival

Written by SK Ashby

Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner presented an outline of his immigration reform plan to Senate Republicans this week and, as you may have expected, the plan is probably dead on arrival.

Republicans who met with Kushner were apparently dumbfounded by several aspects of his plan, prompting some to wonder if Kushner even understands the situation in Congress.

For example, Kushner's plan does not include language addressing the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program according to sources who spoke to the Washington Post.

At one point, Kushner told Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) that his plan would not address Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the program that shields some young undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children from deportation. This left several senators confused because dealing with the “dreamers,” as the group of immigrants is often called, is crucial for securing any Democratic support. [...]

Though some appreciated his efforts, they did not think his plan would advance anytime soon. No senator has stepped forward yet to turn Kushner’s plan into legislation.

He’s in his own little world,” said one individual familiar with the discussion in the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely describe the session. “He didn’t give many details about what was in [his plan]. . . . And there were a number of instances where people had to step in and answer questions because he couldn’t.”

We will never see a comprehensive immigration reform plan passed as long as Republicans control the White House or either chamber of Congress, and it's not because Jared Kushner has no idea what he's doing.

We'll never see comprehensive reform because Republicans do not actually want or support comprehensive reform. They don't want or support it because the Republican party is a white supremacist party that has decided to go-for-broke with a base of almost exclusively white voters. Racism is literally their electoral strategy.

Moreover, passing comprehensive reform would require compromising with pro-immigration advocates who want to make it easier to legally immigrate to America, not more difficult.

For some of the same reasons Trump is incapable of cutting a deal with our foreign trade partners -- or even maintaining deals already crafted for him -- he'll never make a deal with congressional Democrats to pass immigration reform.