TBT: With SCOTUS Poised to Hear DACA/DAPA Case, Ryan & #HouseOfTrump to Blame
By: Javier Gamboa
House Republicans have repeatedly failed to act on comprehensive immigration reform, leading President Obama to take action and expand the DACA and DAPA programs. Unfortunately, the growing anti-immigrant faction of the Party of Trump has set its sights on these critical measures that protect law-abiding immigrant families from deportation. A lawsuit filed by 26 Republican-controlled states – and supported at the Capitol by Speaker Ryan and House Republicans through a recent, nearly unprecedented floor vote on this case- means that these policies are now heading to the Supreme Court, with oral arguments beginning on Monday.
On this Throwback Thursday, there are no shortage of examples of Speaker Paul Ryan and his unruly House Republicans actively attacking Obama’s immigration policies, giving us a preview of what a Trump or Cruz presidency will look like.
- Paul Ryan once supported comprehensive immigration with a path to citizenship but changed his position to placate the Tea Party in the House.
- Newly elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan immediately shut the door to any type of immigration reform, living up to his promises to the Freedom Caucus of not bringing up an immigration reform bill to the House floor as long as President Obama remains in the White House.
- Paul Ryan also led the House of Representatives in an extraordinary floor vote to send an Amicus Brief to the Supreme Court against extended DACA and DAPA on behalf of the House.
It bears remembering that Paul Ryan’s Tea Party-inspired refusal to work on comprehensive immigration reform is both the reason why these programs are so critical, and why he and House Republicans are going out of their way to line up against DACA and DAPA.