The Congressional Hispanic Caucus is divided over the best way to respond to illegal immigration – a microcosm of the broader debate in the Democratic Party over what to do about the southern border.
Why it matters: Top Democrats know that the scenes of migrants streaming across the border – coupled with cities across the country being overwhelmed – pose a massive political problem for President Biden and congressional Democrats.
But finding legislation that threads the needle between moderate demands for increased enforcement and progressive demands for more pathways to citizenship is already proving difficult.
Driving the news: Last Tuesday, the CHC held a roughly 45-minute meeting focused entirely on immigration, with Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) trying to build support for the bipartisan Dignity Act, according to aides and lawmakers.
They held a second immigration meeting Thursday as the group grapples with how to use its power to get something done on an issue that has long eluded real reform in Congress.
What we’re hearing: Escobar’s pitch did not sit well with several members in attendance last week.
The legislation, which Escobar introduced in May with Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.), includes $35 billion for border and port security, but also provides opportunities for some undocumented migrants to obtain work permits – and potentially citizenship.
It also creates so-called “humanitarian camps” where families would be required to stay for up to 60 days while going through the asylum process.
Others at the meeting argued that the priority should be to pass Biden’s US Citizenship Act, first introduced by Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) in 2021 with broad Democratic support.
Sanchez’s legislation offers significant pathways to citizenship for DACA participants and TPS holders, but it has seen no real movement – even with Democrats in the majority. It would never pass with Republicans in control.
What they say: “It was a friendly discussion – and an honest discussion – about some of the provisions in the bill that some members will have difficulty with,” Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), who is a co-sponsor of the bill, told Axios of last week’s meeting.
“You have to have a balanced approach, and that includes more money for border security,” he said.
“The Biden administration has put some good proposals on the table,” he said. “But much more needs to be done.”
Another Democratic lawmaker described it as a “very good” discussion of the “different views on immigration” – calling it “healthy”.
“It was an interesting confrontation of the fact that the CHC is not an ideological caucus,” the lawmaker said.
“The caucus has endorsed a number of bills and believes that all of these bills would advance the priorities of the caucus and serve to fix our broken immigration and asylum system, including the Farm Workforce Modernisation Act, the Lifting Immigrant Families Through Benefits Access Restoration (LIFT the BAR) Act, and the Dream and Promise Act of 2023,” Chairwoman Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-Calif.) told Axios.
Zoom out: The White House has already taken drastic measures to reduce the number of migrants and asylum seekers crossing the US-Mexico border illegally. These include resuming construction of the border wall, deportations to Venezuela and a move to use foreign aid to help with deportations in Panama.
These actions have been condemned by some CHC members and immigrant rights groups.
“The Biden administration’s decision to build more wall flies in the face of the values they promised to uphold for the American people,” said Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.).
“If this administration chooses to support Panama’s migrant deportation programs, it would send a dangerous message about the obligations of receiving countries to protect migrants and asylum seekers within their borders,” Barragán and Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) said in a joint statement Thursday.
Zoom in: Republicans have stoked Democratic tensions, forcing cities far from the border to deal with the influx of migrants.
Texas, for example, has bused more than 50,000 migrants from the border to major US cities across the country – and the effort is ramping up.
