Progressives form 'Global Migration' caucus to reshape U.S. immigration debate
House progressives are forming a new caucus to focus the U.S. immigration debate on fixing causes of migration rather than controlling the southern border.
WASHINGTON — A trio of House progressives is forming a caucus aimed at reframing the national immigration debate away from controls on the southern border and toward fixing the root causes of migration to the U.S.
The new Congressional Caucus on Global Migration will be co-chaired by Reps. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., Greg Casar, D-Texas, and Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Calif. In a one-page memo, first reported by NBC News, the Democrats say families around the world are migrating at unprecedented levels “in search of safety and stability” because of a mix of global “violence, civil wars, human rights violations, democratic backsliding, economic exclusion, and climate instability."
But rather than tighten the rules to shut out asylum-seekers, they instead propose to examine “the factors and conditions that displace or drive people to migrate” to the U.S. and craft domestic and foreign policy solutions that diminish the need for people to migrate. The caucus says it plans to hold quarterly actions, including “roundtables, briefings, special order speeches, shadow hearings [and] public toolkits,” to stir Congress to meaningful action.
“We Democrats have done a terrible job in actually talking about immigration and actually talking about root causes of migration,” Ramirez said in an interview. “We’ve just been reactive and apologetic instead of actually moving in the direction that positions Congress to be an effective ally to global efforts that creates a safer, more equitable world where people don’t have to come to the U.S.”
The new caucus, which counts 14 founding House members, comes as immigration has turned into a major liability for President Joe Biden during his re-election bid this year, prompting the White House and moderate Democrats to adopt some conservative proposals to tighten U.S. border and asylum laws. Former President Donald Trump has called for an immigration crackdown in his presidential bid. Progressives, who were on the offensive with immigration policy a decade ago, are now on the back foot and urging their party not to embrace GOP attitudes that call for a more restrictive system.
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