Corker-Hoeven Amendment Blows $46 Billion

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 24, 2013

CONTACT
Adela de la Torre, 213-400-7822, [email protected]

Corker-Hoeven Amendment
A High Price to Pay

WASHINGTON — The Senate today agreed to move forward with the bipartisan immigration bill, S. 744, by accepting language that would add 20,000 Border Patrol agents and dedicate billions of dollars to bring surveillance and detection technologies to the southern border. The amendment also strips immigrants of a decade’s worth of their past Social Security earnings. Below is a statement from Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center:

“Today’s vote wasn’t about policy — it was about politics. The Corker-Hoeven amendment will blow an additional $46 billion hole in our federal budget, an expenditure that is as wasteful as it is unconscionable in our current economy.

“The price of this amendment extends beyond our pocketbooks: millions of U.S. residents along the U.S.-Mexico border will witness an unprecedented militarization of their neighborhoods, even though these communities are among the safest in the nation.

“For aspiring citizens, this amendment inflicts more undue punishment by denying them the Social Security benefits they earned before these workers got on the road to citizenship. Instead of allowing these immigrants to get on the first rung of the ladder of opportunity, this provision could instead keep many immigrants on the brink of poverty.

“Today’s vote brings us one step closer toward allowing millions of mothers, fathers, and children to realize their dream of becoming Americans on paper, as well as in their hearts. Aspiring and current citizens alike deserve a better bill, one that recognizes that our country is strongest when we move forward together. We call upon Senate leaders on both sides of the aisle to rise above petty politics and create the kind of immigration policy this country deserves.”

NILC’s analysis of S. 744, as amended, is available here.

# # #