Democrat Congressman: No Spending Package Without Amnesty for Millions of Illegal Aliens
Rep. Jesús García (D-IL) says he will not support a reconciliation spending package, which only would need majority support in the Senate, that does not include amnesty for illegal aliens.
In exclusive statements to The Hill, García said “a robust and equitable budget reconciliation deal must include” amnesty for millions of illegal aliens, specifically those enrolled and eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, beneficiaries of Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and so-called “essential workers.”
García told The Hill:
We must seize this historic opportunity to bring compassion and dignity to our immigration system and provide the certainty that comes with having the legal status that millions of immigrants and their families deserve. [Emphasis added]
…
This is crucial for thousands of undocumented essential workers I represent. They sacrificed themselves to keep this country running during the worst of the pandemic and frequently had no access to relief or medical assistance for fear of being deported. We owe it to them. [Emphasis added]
As Breitbart News has reported, House and Senate Democrats are looking to slip an expansive amnesty for illegal aliens through the little-known reconciliation process where federal spending can receive approval with only a majority of support in the Senate and no threat of a filibuster to hold up a vote.
One such package by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is expected to include provisions that would force American taxpayers to spend $150 billion on providing amnesty to millions of illegal aliens.
Likewise, members of the House Progressive Caucus have nearly threatened to tank any package that does not include amnesty for millions of illegal aliens.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), head of the caucus, said amnesty is one of her “needs” in a reconciliation package:
The amnesty proposals come as corporate interests have boosted their push to inflate the United States labor market by legalizing for American jobs the majority of the nation’s 11 to 22 million illegal aliens.
Center for American Progress, a left-wing lobbying group funded by big corporations, is insisting to lawmakers that amnesty for illegal aliens “can and should be done through the budget reconciliation process.”
In May, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s FWD.us hired a former assistant Senate parliamentarian to craft a plan for Democrats that would pass amnesty for illegal aliens through reconciliation.
Democrats, along with some House Republicans, have the support of a large amnesty coalition which includes former President George W. Bush, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, and a number of Koch brothers-backed organizations.
Already, current immigration levels put downward pressure on U.S. wages while redistributing about $500 billion in wealth away from America’s working and middle class and towards employers and new arrivals, research by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine has found.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has repeatedly found that amnesty for illegal aliens would be a net fiscal drain for American taxpayers while driving down U.S. wages.
Every year, 1.2 million legal immigrants receive green cards to permanently resettle in the U.S. In addition, 1.4 million foreign nationals are given visas to take American jobs while hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens enter the U.S. annually.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
'This Is the Wild West Again': The Border Crisis Is Putting Northern Los Angeles County Residents In Danger
Source: Townhall Media/Julio Rosas
PALMDALE, Calif. — Being followed when they leave the house. Being shown pictures of a bullet-ridden truck with a person still inside. Encountering aggressive drivers on roads. Having illegal grow houses next door. Having water stolen from their farms. These are some of the examples of what northern Los Angeles County residents say they have experienced by the people who are running illegal marijuana farms.
The residents, close to a dozen, gathered on Tuesday to share their stories and to hear an update on law enforcement taking action against the drug-growing operations. They all wanted to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation from the cartels.
Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA) and Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva told the meeting when they each did an air tour of the areas in north L.A. County, they realized it was as bad as the calls were saying it was. The problem has been persistent for a while, but it gained major steam within the last year.
"We did a survey way back in 2020, during the [COVID-19] pandemic...150 illegal grows, the ones you can count easily from the air. So when we did it again this year, that number grew to 500 in one year. So there was a noticeable shift in acceleration," Villanueva explained, adding the illegal dispensaries are outnumbering the legal businesses 50-1.
In neighboring San Bernardino County, Villanueva said law enforcement there counted over 860 illegal marijuana farms when they conducted their own survey.
In June, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration launched an operation to destroy the illegal pot farms and confiscate the plants. With the operation lasting ten days, Villanueva said they only were able to knock out around 40 percent of the known illegal marijuana farms. Around $1.2 billion in street value marijuana was seized and over 90 firearms were confiscated.
Villanueva said while they have the manpower, the will, and the plans to continue combatting the illegal growing operations, the constant issue is funding. The increase in cartel activity in northern L.A. County is occurring at the same time as violent crime is rising in the metropolitan areas and the sheriff's department is operating with 145 million fewer dollars in its budget.
With the massive number of illegal farms, their biggest issue is the same as anyone who lives in the desert climate: water. Each plant requires three gallons of water per day, leading the cartels to steal water from residents and farms.
"I have, within a mile, probably four or five [illegal pot farms]. They've been busted a few times...they're outside, they're not in houses," one resident told me, adding it's not the drug that's the issue, "it's the people behind the drug."
"Everything they're doing to the environment and to the groundwater. They were stealing our water. They had a mile and a half waterline that went across the road...they were pumping the water out and our water company only services 35 homes, so once the water's gone, it's gone."
One couple described how, while hiking in the places they have hiked for years, one of the cartel workers approached and threatened them to never return to the area.
"He showed us a picture of a truck, by the way, they have pictures of us, they know where we live... He showed us a truck with three bullet holes in it and the guy was still in it. And he said, 'This is what will happen to you if you come back out again.' So we are always followed and they're always watching us... they watch us all the time," they said.
"We're not sure what to do at this point because we hiked those mountains for 25 years. We've hiked those mountains numerous times, never been bothered... now we can't even do anything," they added. "We're scared. We go out to our yard, they're right there!"
They said while they do not have a problem giving the information over to law enforcement, they are worried the cartels will find out where the information came from and kill them.
Another resident said the issue they run into with reporting the illegal farms is that there are so many that law enforcement puts them on a list and they do not know which ones are a priority to get rid of. Villanueva said he prioritizes the farms that are nearby the residential areas along with loosening the "may-issue" requirements for residents to obtain concealed carry firearm permits so they can better protect themselves.
Garica promised the residents that everyone from the city to the federal level is still committed to putting pressure on the cartels who run the farms but acknowledged "this is the wild west again."
Garica told me he believes part of the reason why the expansion of illegal pot farms got out of hand is because officials viewed the product as harmless but did not factor in those who operate the farms. He also said the increase in illegal grows and cash going to the cartels is a byproduct of the current crisis at the southern border.
"Right now what the cartels have in the local areas now: unlimited resources, a zero-cost basis crop, and they've got effectively free indentured labor and the bench for that is extremely deep. Basically, an unlimited employee base to tap into as these borders are open," he said, noting they are around 200 miles north of the border and yet the cartels are operating with a lot of freedom in his district.
"We're done with it. This is not going to happen anymore," is what Garica said his message is to the cartels.
Villanueva told the meeting many of the workers they took into custody during the operation were in the country illegally and some had come to the United States only a week before. While he said he does not get involved in immigration enforcement, he did say the border needs to be secured to stem the "steady supply" of workers coming into the country illegally to work the farms.
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