U.S. Republican Rep. Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee’s Fourth Congressional District voted against the American Dream and Promise Act Tuesday.
If passed into law, it would grant amnesty to millions of illegal aliens. Most members in the Democrat-controlled U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of the bill.
DesJarlais said the following, in an emailed statement:
“Already this week, the House passed a disaster aid bill without a single dime to alleviate the disaster at the border. Today, Nancy Pelosi and her caucus passed a bill providing amnesty and a path to citizenship, as well as Medicaid, food stamps, and other welfare benefits, to millions of illegal aliens, but no resources to prevent more than a hundred thousand from crossing the southern border every month. It would encourage legal aliens to break the law, to receive the same preferential treatment, and reward repeat criminals, including gang members,” DesJarlais wrote in a press release.
“Bad laws like this are fueling the border crisis, reaching far into the U.S. Fortunately, despite misleading media coverage, Americans are beginning to understand the problem and effective solutions. We need to build a wall and end legal loopholes drawing enormous migrant caravans. Open borders are destructive.”
According to various news outlets, the bill passed 237-187. The Republican-led U.S. Senate is unlikely to pass the bill, much less consider it.
According to CBSNews.com, seven House Republicans joined Democrats in voting for the bill. Not a single Democrat voted against it.
As The Tennessee Star reported last month, DesJarlais and U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and U.S. Republican Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee’s Seventh Congressional District back U.S. Republican President Donald Trump on how best to handle immigration.
Trump last month rolled out a plan to transform America’s immigration system from one of random entry to a meritocracy.
Provisions include: legal immigrants entering for jobs would rise from 12 percent to 57 percent; family-based immigration would decrease from two-thirds to one-third; asylum and diversity visas would decrease from 22 percent to 10 percent; and priority would be given to spouses, children and parents, but not extended family.
DesJarlais said Trump’s plan is “a well-thought-out, sensible one that would end the chaos at the border and across the United States, because of weak border security, bad laws and judicial decisions.”
– – –
Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
