Ryan and Goodlatte Immigration Bills Are Ransom Notes, Not Solutions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 19, 2018

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Juan Gastelum, 213-375-3149
Hayley Burgess, 202-384-1279

Ryan and Goodlatte Immigration Bills Are Ransom Notes, Not Solutions

WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives this week is expected to vote on two anti-immigrant bills that would make sweeping, harmful changes to our immigration system and provide inadequate protections for Dreamers. Republican House leaders advanced the two proposals — commonly known as the Ryan bill and the Goodlatte bill, after their respective sponsors — in order to stave off good-faith efforts to bring bipartisan, narrowly tailored legislative solutions for Dreamers up for a vote.

The expected votes come in the midst of widespread outrage over the Trump administration’s policy resulting in the separation of children and their parents seeking asylum. Among a litany of extremist, anti-immigrant provisions, the Ryan and Goodlatte bills both call for extreme border militarization and enforcement, including funding for President Trump’s border wall. Neither would end the jailing of children and families.

Kamal Essaheb, policy and advocacy director at the National Immigration Law Center, issued the following statement:

“Paul Ryan and likeminded Republicans for months have played into the Trump White House’s cruel and repulsive ploy to use Dreamers as a bargaining chip to enact an extremist, anti-immigrant agenda and build his border wall. These latest efforts in the House only show Republican leadership’s commitment to thwart any real solution for immigrant youth and their complicity in this administration’s efforts to hurt the broader immigrant community and people of color.

The Ryan and Goodlatte bills are ransom notes. And what’s worse, Trump and his enablers in Congress are now taking more hostages: kids ripped away from their parents and jailed. Any lawmaker who truly cares about finding a real solution for Dreamers must reject these partisan, extremist proposals.”

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