Democrats Badly Divided Over Emergency Aid For Illegals At Border

They caterwaul about how bad the conditions are in the detention facilities, yet, they want to play games with the funding

Emergency Aid for Migrants Badly Divides Democrats

Congress is trying to rush $4.5 billion in emergency humanitarian aid to the southwestern border while placing new restrictions on President Trump’s immigration crackdown, spurred on by disturbing images of suffering migrant families and of children living in squalor in overcrowded detention facilities.

But with a House vote on the package planned for Tuesday, some Democrats are revolting over the measure, fearing that the aid will be used to carry out Mr. Trump’s aggressive tactics, including deportation raids that he has promised will begin within two weeks. Republicans are siding with the White House, which on Monday threatened a veto. They oppose restrictions in the measure that are meant to dictate better standards for facilities that hold migrant children and to bar the money from being used for enforcing immigration law.

Those twin challenges have left the fate of the bill up in the air, even as evidence of deplorable conditions at the border underscores both the urgent need for the money and the bitter rift over Mr. Trump’s policies.

“Democrats distrust this president because we have seen his cruel immigration policies and lawless behavior terrorize our constituents,” Representative Nita M. Lowey of New York, the chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, said on Monday evening as she pleaded with fellow Democrats to support the package. “That is why we have language to stop transfers of money for immigration raids and detention beds. But we cannot allow our anger at this president to blind us to the horrific conditions at facilities along the border as the agencies run out of money.”

Funny, the Democrats weren’t concerned when Mr. Obama was doing the same thing. He just had the luxury of not seeing the border being totally over-run with people in caravans demanding asylum, which requires detaining them till the case can be adjudicated. Do Democrats want to let them go with a pinky promise to return? Where will they live then? Lowey is correct, though, in that Democrats should put away their Trump Derangement Syndrome for a few minutes and do the right thing.

Hispanic-American lawmakers are particularly split; some are arguing that it is crucial to get the aid to agencies and outside groups assisting migrants at the border, while others say they will not be complicit in sending any money to the very departments that have carried out Mr. Trump’s harsh initiatives against immigrants.

“I will not fund another dime to allow ICE to continue its manipulative tactics,” Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York, said on Monday evening on her way into the meeting in Ms. Pelosi’s Capitol office.

ICE isn’t the one operating most of the facilities, that would be Customs and Border Control. Further, ICE must be funded by law. But, hey, when will AOC offer to house the illegals herself?

Essentially, Democrats and all their little groups are all over the place on what they want, and

(The Hill) The White House on Monday threatened to veto House Democrats’ proposal on how to meet its request for $4.5 billion in funds to address the influx of migrants on the southern border.

The House and Senate are considering competing bills this week to meet the Trump administration’s request.

While the Senate version is bipartisan, House Democrats are still trying to round up the votes for their bill amid concerns from Hispanic and progressive lawmakers wary of funding the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

In a statement on Monday, the Office of Management and Budget called the House measure a “partisan bill that underfunds necessary accounts and seeks to take advantage of the current crisis by inserting policy provisions that would make our country less safe.”

That statement is well worth the read, and highlights just how loopy the Democrats are.