Joe Biden Presidency thread *Please read OP - Threadbanned Users Added 4/5/21*

April 22, 2022 

WASHINGTON — House Republicans plan to use an inspection hearing next week to attack the Biden administration over its immigration policies, according to a memo obtained by The New York Times, which provides a road map for how the GOP intends to pursue an issue. Already the main thrust of his midterm campaign message against Democrats.

The detailed, 60-page guidance memo contains misleading and provocative talking points that seek to portray migrants and refugees as perpetrators of horrific crimes, particularly those involving sexual assault, which the former president There is an echo of the language used by Donald Trump to denigrate immigrants. It also argues that the Biden administration has been lax on illegal immigration, seeking to put Democrats on the defensive over the issue.

It comes as Democrats are increasingly concerned that President Joe Biden’s immigration policies, including a recent decision to lift pandemic-era border restrictions next month, could pose a political obligation to him ahead of the midterm elections.

The memo – which is marked “confidential – for internal use only” – repeatedly hints that immigrants may be sex offenders, highlighting a handful of arrests and Afghan evacuations at the southwestern border. It also misrepresents a Biden administration policy designed to humanely enforce immigration laws that would prevent law enforcement from surveying sex offenders near schoolyards.

Studies show that the estimated 40 million immigrants living in the United States commit crimes at much lower rates than Native Americans.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Meyercas is set to testify before the House Judiciary Committee for the first time on Thursday, just as the administration is preparing itself for a surge of migrants making asylum claims at the border in late May. That’s when a public health rule limits border crossings due to the pandemic, known as Title 42, on top of two of the claims on top of the high volume of migrants usually arriving at the southwestern border. Year’s backlog is scheduled to be removed. spring.

The memo for Republicans, prepared by Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, the ranking member of the committee, details how Democrats rightly plan to use the hearings to advance “far-left policies” that All want to end immigration enforcement and even “encourage” illegal immigration.

While Jordan’s memo was circulated confidentially among Republicans, he posted on Twitter that he planned to grill Meyerkas over Title 42 and other immigration issues.

A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment about an upcoming hearing or the outline of the attack.

Kerry Talbot, deputy director of Immigration Hub, a pro-immigrant organization, said, “Republicans continue to use immigration as a political spoof to scare voters at every turn, knowing they have killed serious immigration reform at every turn.” Have given.” He ridiculed the immigration agenda of Republicans, alleging that “they want to build a $15 billion wall that a $15 hand can cut.”

And she has defended Biden’s handling of the issue, saying his administration has a plan to “safely and methodically” manage migration spikes.

Many of the attack lines previewed in the memo are not new. Instead, they appear to be drawn from the same political playbook that Republicans have used in recent election cycles. In 2018, Trump adopted a dark, anti-immigrant message to energize conservative voters ahead of the midterm elections, raising concerns about caravans of migrants claiming their trek to the southern border was dangerous. This method yielded mixed results: Democrats took back control of the House that year, while Republicans won seats in the Senate.

But Republicans have continued to push for an issue that not only generates fear but has additional appeal for them to create division within the Democratic Party. According to Jordan’s memo, he plans to accuse the administration of prioritizing “illegal aliens over US citizens” by abolishing Title 42.

More than 100 mostly progressive Democrats have demanded that Biden lift border restrictions, which they say his administration has abused black immigrants, while centrist Democrats, including about a dozen in the Senate, have called for restrictions.

White House officials have noted that ending the ban simply means going back to a standard immigration processing system that is in place in many administrations. He has also pointed out that this would result in more people being deported.

Still, the decision to end pandemic-era border restrictions has raised concerns among several Democratic lawmakers running for re-election in competing districts. He has warned the administration that crossing the border could raise voters’ concerns about border crime and chaos in their districts.

Progressive Democrats countered that any attempt to further increase the restrictions could reduce turnout among Latino voters. In a recent poll conducted by Immigration Hub, nearly 20% of Latino respondents said immigration was an issue that would decide their vote.

Even in a political climate dominated by concerns about inflation and rising gas prices, immigration remains a powerful issue for voters across the board. Forty-one percent of Americans said they worry about illegal immigration being “a big deal,” according to a recent Gallup poll.

At the same time, Biden and Democrats are dealing with pent-up anger among liberals about Trump’s harsh immigration policies, and are pressing every opportunity to reverse them.

“The same Democrats who bet their voters that strong border security was unethical now have little room to maneuver for progress,” said Jack Pandol, communications director for the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC aimed at the Republican majority. is to build. “It is an inevitable trap of his own creation.”

White House officials said they see no option but to lift the pandemic-era restrictions until Congress passes legislation to increase them. But Democrats are divided on whether to do so, it’s unclear whether there would be enough support to pass such a bill, and party leaders are reluctant to introduce a measure that will help their progressive supporters. will annoy you.

Efforts to pass a sweeping immigration overhaul that legalized the status of millions of people living in the US illegally have stalled amid Republican protests, leaving lawmakers few options to take action.

“There are many other ideas for reforming our immigration system,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Wednesday.

“All of this will require the action of Congress,” she said. “We are happy to have a conversation with them.”

But Jordan’s document shows why no such discussion took place in Congress. It suggests it came just months after Republicans joined Democrats to help enact legislation to help thousands of Afghans in the United States who were facing retaliation for helping American soldiers. The GOP is showcasing such refugees.