State GOP leader Brian Jones, Assemblymember Laurie Davies and others ask Trump to refocus on criminal immigrants, not everyday workers
Just as President Donald Trump is putting record funding for deportations in the pipeline, his sweeping immigration raids are drawing resistance in unexpected quarters.
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Six California state Republican legislators sent a letter to Trump June 27 asking him to refocus his immigration enforcement efforts on dangerous criminals and not ordinary workers. They further urged the president to broadly reform the immigration system to provide noncriminal immigrants who have been longtime residents with “a pathway toward legal status.”
Among those signing the letter were Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones of Santee and Assemblymember Laurie Davies, who represents part of north coastal San Diego County.
“The recent ICE workplace raids on farms, at construction sites, and in restaurants and hotels, have led to unintended consequences that are harming the communities we represent and the businesses that employ our constituents,” the Republicans wrote. “We have heard from employers in our districts that recent ICE raids are not only targeting undocumented workers, but also creating widespread fear among other employees, including those with legal immigration status.”
The Republicans have expressed concern that the loss of workers will cause economic damage to their districts. Unspoken is the political concern that this could cause the GOP to lose ground in the Legislature and Congress in next year’s elections.
Meanwhile, members of two veterans groups have volunteered to attend immigration hearings for Afghans who worked with U.S. military forces in Afghanistan.
“This isn’t political,” Kyleanne Hunter, CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America said at a June 30 news conference, according to KPBS. “This is personal. For many of us, these are people that we served with.”
IAVA and #AfghanEvac, co-founded by San Diegan Shawn Van Diver, partnered on the Battle Buddies initiative after the June arrest of Sayed Naser, a former Afghan interpreter for the U.S., after his San Diego asylum hearing.
That courthouse incident generated national headlines and added fuel to the growing outrage over Trump administration plans to deny refugee or other legal status to many Afghans, including those who aided U.S. troops in Afghanistan and believed they would have safe harbor in the United States.
Catholic leaders in San Diego previously had given similar courthouse support to immigrants who faced hearings.
Amid pressure from business interests and other Republicans, Trump told Fox News he is considering some changes that might protect longtime agricultural and hotel workers from deportation.
“We’re working on it right now; we’re going to work it so that some kind of temporary pass where people pay taxes, where the farmer can have a little control as opposed to you walk in and take everybody away,” Trump said.
But the White House is moving ahead with massive immigration enforcement and deportation plans.
Congress allocated $45 billion to lock up immigrants over the next four years — more than the government spent on detention during the Obama, Biden and first Trump administrations combined, according to The Washington Post.
In all, the sweeping domestic spending bill signed by Trump last week directs $170 billion toward border and immigration enforcement, which includes money for continued construction of the wall at the border with Mexico, technology and surveillance, and other immigration-related security measures.
Click here to read the full article in the San Diego Union Tribune
You will always find in a broken system like this people who need help or should not have been taken advantage of.
Biden and his auto pen Presidency caused a great portion of this.
Now it is time to start focusing on the Canadian border and the part Indian Tribes are playing in illegals and drugs coming across the northern border.
Colossal mistake. He needs to get onboard with immigration enforcement. Taking the ‘criminal alien’ approach makes him look weak – because he is.