I Know Why House Republicans Want to Expand Trump’s Deportation Machine. But Why Do These Dems?
Earlier today, House Republicans passed two xenophobic messaging bills that would be actively harmful if they become law. As one can guess, both pulled a few dozen Democratic crossover votes.
At the same time, according to a Quinnipac poll just out today, voters disapprove of the way ICE is doing its job 56% — 39%, disapprove of Trump on immigration 57%-41%, and disapprove of Trump on deportations 59% to 39%.
Trump’s mass deportations are terrorizing communities and showing to more and more voters how cruel and disruptive Trump’s approach to immigration is. And, according to polling, these voters are becoming more supportive of immigration and of creating legal pathways for undocumented residents.
What this shows, of course, is that public opinion is very movable. Democrats too often view public opinion as fixed and thus cede territory to Republicans, who work hard to change it in their favor. There is never a need to accept your opponent’s terms of debate.
But back to today’s votes.
The House voted 246 to 160 to say that an adult international student sitting in a parked car with a can of beer should be deported. I’m not joking.
The bill, named the Jeremy and Angel Seay and Sergeant Brandon Mendoza Protect Our Communities from DUIs Act, does nothing to prevent drunk driving. As Rep. Jamie Raskin, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, states clearly in his dissenting report,
“Instead of confronting the danger of drunk driving with serious public policy changes, H.R. 875 simply weaponizes the problem to attack and scapegoat immigrants. It is not a serious attempt to reduce drunk driving, a problem on our roads that is overwhelmingly about citizen drivers. Nor does this bill do anything to repair our broken immigration system or secure the border.”
The bill would would make immigrants, including permanent green card holders, deportable for a single misdemeanor driving under the influence (DUI) offense even when no one is hurt and no property is damaged. It is important to note that serious DUIs already render people inadmissible and deportable.
As Raskin also explains, creating new deportable offenses is about making it easier to deport legally present immigrants. Republicans have tried to pretend that they are not targeting legally present immigrants, but they are. And a fraction of the Democratic caucus wants to help.
The bill gets even more absurd when you realize how much the meaning of a “DUI” varies by state. Here’s Raskin again:
DUI offenses vary all over the country. Some jurisdictions do not even require the individual to be physically driving the vehicle for a DUI offense to be committed. For example, in Arizona, the DUI statute allows people to be charged with a DUI if they are intoxicated and have ``physical control’’ of their vehicle.\7\ The Ninth Circuit, in reviewing an appeal of a removal case for a noncitizen charged under Arizona’s DUI statute, found that the ``physical control’’ language meant that under this statute, ``One may be convicted under it for sitting in one’s own car in one’s own driveway with the key in the ignition and a bottle of beer in one’s hand.’’\8\
Nevertheless, 37 House Dems joined Republicans in voting for it:
The second bill passed by the House today is a bill that, in the interests of fear-mongering about immigrants, would actually help transnational crime syndicates.
The bill, called the Special Interest Alien Reporting Act, would require US Customs and Border Protection to publicly report each month the number of “special interest aliens” encountered each month, as well as their nationalities or countries of last habitual residence and where they attempted to cross the border. “Special interest alien” status has nothing to do with any actions by the individual in question, but indicates a flag on their travel patterns — perhaps even just by virtue of their country of origin.
It’s obvious that the bill is an attempt by Republicans to get data points to invoke when spouting xenophobic conspiracy theories. But the bill isn’t just harmful for its malicious use; it would actually be harmful to safety and security. Here’s Rep. Bennie Thompson, the ranking member of the Homeland Security Committee in his dissenting statement:
Identifying information about SIAs is considered LES [law enforcement sensitive] because the term is dynamic, and thus releasing specifics about SIA in real-time could help criminals and terrorists understand who DHS is targeting for additional screening and where this screening is occurring, and then use that information to attempt to avoid the enhanced screenings intended to protect public safety.
That’s right: in order to fear-monger about “criminal” immigrants, Republicans are making criminal activity easier.
The bill passed 231 to 182, with 23 Democrats joining Republicans. Here are the 23:
