Lame Duck Amnesties Fail—But Impeachment May Be The Only Way To Move The Immigration Ball Forward In 2023
01/02/2023
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As we go to pixel, it’s (astoundingly) still unclear if GOP Establishmentarian Rep. Kevin McCarthy will be elected House Speaker on January 3. Some conservative lawmakers are still refusing to vote for him and, without their votes, McCarthy can’t take the Speaker’s seat [Kevin McCarthy’s speaker bid in balance as effort to placate hardliners flops, by Richard Luscombe, The Guardian, January 2, 2023]. This drama has an immigration angle. McCarthy is doing all he can to win Patriot support: he says that no Amnesty will be passed if he’s given the speaker’s gavel and that he will fulfill the threat made by some House Freedom Caucus members to defeat any legislation sponsored by pro-Omnibus GOP senators (who effectively deprived the House of the ability to use the power of the purse against immigration through the Fiscal Year). He also promises other conservative wish items, such as an investigation into the intelligence agencies’ targeting of patriots [Time is running short for McCarthy to lock up Speakership, by Emily Brooks, The Hill, December 27, 2022]. He hints he may be open to impeaching unindicted visa fixer DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas—and even possibly President Biden (recently suggested by—Shock! Horror!—National Review’s very politic Andrew McCarthy [Impeach Biden over the Security Catastrophe He’s Caused at the Border, NRO, December 31, 2022].  Bottom line: There’s a Patriot backlash in the GOP/GAP—presaged by the (largely uncelebrated) failure of Uniparty Amnesty initiatives in the just-concluded Lame Duck session.

Lest we forget:

Democrats and a few GOP traitors tried to pass three Amnesties and one green-card giveaway before the new Congress took over. All these attempts failed, reassuring the Historic American Nation that Amnesty isn’t going to pass any time soon:

  • DREAMer Amnesty

Independent Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and Republican North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis joined forces on this attempted sellout of the Historic American Nation. An Amnesty to legalize illegal aliens who came to the U.S. as children—“DREAMers” in Treason Lobby code—passed the House in early 2021 but went nowhere in the Senate. Sinema and Tillis sought to make it more appealing to Republicans by adding the barest of concessions: more funding for border security. The bill’s crafters apparently thought the pittance was a breakthrough. Fortunately, no one else was satisfied. Republicans involved in the negotiations demanded more immigration enforcement; the sponsors and Democrats refused (why?). A number of Democrats were outright opposed to any increased border security.

Tillis and Sinema plan to resuscitate the bill next session, but its prospects look dim with a GOP-led House [Last-minute push to pass bipartisan immigration deal fails, dooming yet another reform effort, by Camilo Montoya-Galvez, CBS News, December 15, 2022].

  • Big Ag Amnesty

Treason Lobby allies also wanted to legalize illegal aliens who work for Big Agriculture. It too passed the House in early 2021 and stalled in the Senate. Negotiations in the upper chamber restarted after the midterms. Idaho Republican Sen. Mike Crapo and Colorado Democrat Sen. Michael Bennet led efforts to work out a “bipartisan” agreement. Bennet eventually released a bill, but without Crapo or Republican sponsors.

While the bill enjoyed the support of 30 Republicans in the House, it failed to get GOP backing in the Senate. Possible supporters were dissuaded from sponsorship because the legislation did not cater enough to business interests. It was a shameful reason to oppose Amnesty, but it was reason enough to derail passage. Bennet hoped he could insert the legislation into the recently passed Omnibus. That measure passed without it. Like the DREAMer Amnesty, it faces an uphill battle in the new Congress [Sen. Bennet unveils bill to revise agricultural visa system, by Suzanne Monyak and Ellyn Ferguson, Roll Call, December 15, 2022].

  • Veteran Amnesty

This legislation would have shielded foreigners who served in the military from deportation. Unless a non-citizen vet had committed a serious felony, he could stay in the country no matter what. The bill also would have allowed previously deported vets to return to the country. It passed the House with only one Republican voting in favor of it. The Senate never took it up. The bill will have to face a GOP-led House to reach the Senate in the new term. Not happening.

  • EAGLE Act

Not quite an Amnesty, the Eagle Act attempted to scrap country caps on visas, which would allow Indians and Chinese to swamp our immigration system. It would also make it easier for foreign workers in the U.S. to apply for a green card and bypass the annual green card cap. It would motivate tech companies to replace American workers with foreigners.

The bill was sponsored by eight Republicans, but strong opposition from conservatives and also leftist Democrats kneecapped it.

Republican opponents rightly saw it as a means to replace American workers; the Congressional Black Caucus and others opposed it for favoring India above other countries.

Its failure to pass the House signals its dismal chances in the new Congress [GOP and Liberals Defeat Wall St.’s EAGLE Act Outsourcing Bill, by Neil Munro, Breitbart, December 15, 2022].

Despite the good news for immigration patriots, Republicans failed to fight effectively over the new Omnibus bill. It could have been held up to wring concessions from Democrats, but Republicans didn’t do so, and it passed with only some minor bumps.

Utah Sen. Mike Lee tried to insert an amendment that would’ve prohibited President Biden from ending Title 42 public-health expulsions. It was defeated, 50-47. A “moderate” alternative proposed by Sinema and Montana Sen. Jon Tester was also defeated. It was vague enough to allow Biden wiggle room to cancel Title 42. That amendment only earned the votes of 10 senators: Republican Tillis and nine “moderate” Democrats [Senate immigration showdown ends with Title 42 stalemate, by Caroline Coudriet and Suzanne Monyak, Roll Call, December 22, 2022].

Republicans also failed to offer a Continuing Resolution to fund the government for the short-term. That would have given Republicans greater sway over the budget as the larger bill would be crafted and voted on when the GOP controls the House in the new term.

But, despite Peter Brimelow protégé Stephen Miller’s explicit instructions…

…Republicans didn’t fight. Maybe (typically) GOP Congressional leaders believed Regime Media propaganda and felt too downcast from the midterms. Maybe they didn’t feel enough heat from their constituents to stall on the Omnibus. Maybe the Omnibus just didn’t bother them. In any case, it demonstrated a disturbing lack of will.

While McCarthy appears committed to no Amnesty, he must do more than that. He must utilize every means available to stymie Biden’s Open Borders policies. He must use his position to go on the offensive on immigration, rather than be content to always be on the defensive.

The easiest way to do this was the power of the purse. McCarthy could make the Biden Regime restore sensible immigration enforcement and border security if there’s an interim funding bill—which is not impossible: there was one for Ukraine.

But ultimately, the only other move that could stop Biden’s Border Treason is impeaching him, or at least impeaching his Homeland Security Secretary, They refuse to carry out their sworn duties. They are not enforcing immigration law and not securing the border, and worse still, they have released more than 10,000 illegal-alien criminals in the past 15 months.

McCarthy and Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell have said they won’t impeach Biden over “politics.” This is a ridiculous position that they must abandon if they plan to stop the invasion at the border—assuming they want to do that.

Washington Watcher II [Email him] is an anonymous DC insider.

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