Rep. Boebert Votes Against Two Amnesty Bills
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representative Lauren Boebert (CO-03) voted againsttwo bills on the House floor that could provide amnesty to nearly 6 million illegal immigrants.
Congresswoman Lauren Boebert stated: “The current crisis at our southern border is a direct result of Joe Biden’s amnesty and open border policies. Rather than passing legislation to protect our communities and secure the border, House Democrats doubled down with two massive amnesty bills that will exacerbate our immigration problems. Allowing illegal immigrants that are gang members and criminals with COVID to enter the U.S. and receive citizenship is a slap in the face to the American people and the rule of law. I will not vote for amnesty, period.”
Background:
Today, Congresswoman Boebert voted against two bills on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives that were rushed through the process by House Democrats and could provide amnesty to nearly 6 million illegal immigrants.
In less than three months, the Biden administration ushered the country into another border crisis, and his policies and comments have fueled cartels and brought the influx of aliens at the southern border. Currently more than 3,000 illegal immigrants are pouring over the southern border every day, and Border Patrol encountered 100,000 illegal aliens crossing the border last month—the largest monthly number in the last seven years.
H.R. 6 is estimated to provide amnesty and a pathway to citizenship to 4.4 million illegal immigrants at a cost of more than $35 billion. While it does nothing to secure the border, the bill expands and codifies into law an unconstitutional amnesty program created by the Obama administration. Shockingly, this bill grants legal status and allows for eventual citizenship for illegal immigrants that entered the country as recently as January 1, 2021. Even more shocking, H.R. 6 provides a pathway to citizenship to 400,000 illegal immigrants who were only supposed to be in the U.S. temporarily until conditions improved and they could return to their countries. H.R. 6 allows taxpayer money to be used to help illegal immigrants apply for green cards. Additionally, the bill allows waivers for individuals with communicable diseases and allows unlawful voters and criminals to be admitted to and remain in the U.S by preventing ICE or CBP from enforcing current immigration laws.
H.R. 1603 is estimated to provide amnesty and legal status to at least 1.5 million unlawful aliens, and possibly millions more when you include multiple family members that will also become eligible for lawful status and put on a path to citizenship. Under H.R. 1603, illegal immigrants employed in agriculture for less than half a year will receive work permits, green cards, and be put on a path to citizenship. American taxpayers will pay for public education, healthcare, welfare, and other benefits for current unlawful aliens as a result. Specifically, H.R. 1603 provides amnesty by creating a new “certified agricultural worker” status for which only illegal immigrants are eligible even if they are “inadmissible or deportable from the United States on the date of the introduction of this Act.” In 1986, Congress passed agricultural amnesty, and that legislation was sold as one-time amnesty that would fix the system and wipe the slate clean. Ultimately, that bill provided amnesty to more than 1 million illegal immigrants, plus their family members, and now Democrats want to do it again.
Incentivizing illegal immigration enriches dangerous cartels. One study estimates cartels make a $2.3 billion annual profit smuggling human beings across the border. Cartels often use these profits to purchase and smuggle illegal drugs into the U.S. About 90% of meth, heroin and cocaine consumed in America enters our country illegally across the southern border. The N.Y. Times reports women and girls are being raped and abused and left for dead on dangerous trips north with cartels and human smugglers. It is time to secure the border and end this heinous abuse.