The recent crisis at the border surrounding so-called “family separation” policies has been a clarifying moment. We can now, once and for all, clearly distinguish between the people who really want to solve our illegal immigration crisis and those who want to utilize this national security issue for political grandstanding, to gain power.
Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) bill looks to be the best and fastest solution. It mandates that families who immigrate illegally must be kept together; it authorizes new temporary shelters, doubles the number of federal immigration judges and provides for expedited processing of asylum cases to ensure cases are decided promptly and families don’t live in detention facilities for longer than necessary.The fact of the matter is, many on the center-right would prefer that families, when it is verifiable, stay together during deportation hearings and then be deported together.
Thankfully, President Trump signed an executive order to stop separation of families at the border. But it’s not a long-term solution. Congress does have to act.
Yet critics like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) are dead set against such solutions. He and his Democratic cronies are suggesting that President Trump has the legal authority to immediately stop the separate detention of parents and their children at the border.
Rather than realize he’s part of a coequal branch of government, Schumer is rejecting all responsibility to manage the crisis at the border and, instead, would rather have these policies continue.
Republicans should call Schumer’s bluff and pass Cruz’s bill. Put the question to Democrats: Are you willing to let the separation of parents from their children continue to score political points? Apparently the answer is “yes.”