Democrats and Republicans They agree on two things when it comes to immigration policy: that if you commit a violent crime you should be deported and on the need to fix the immigration status process. However, their approach to the two issues is very different.
A Senate committee hearing was convened earlier this week to discuss the implications of Trump's Mass Deportation Plan.
Republicans believe that there is a legal process that immigrants must follow to enter the country, and that if they have entered the United States illegally, they should be deported to follow the proper process, regardless of how long they have been in the country.
Democrats, on the other hand, believe that the United States cannot deport people who have been here for decades and have put down roots. Especially when most immigrants are peaceful and law-abiding. In addition, immigrants contribute enormously to the economy.
Witness Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a member of the American Immigration Council, which works to promote change through litigation, research, advocacy and communication, said deporting undocumented immigrants would cost trillions, increase inflation and decrease GDP, along with the associated loss of additional tax revenue.
During the Senate committee hearing, which saw constant back-and-forth over who is right and who is wrong, both parties seemed to agree that the current path to immigration status resolution has some problems.
Senator John Kennedy said that President Biden's immigration policies have created chaos at the border and encouraged people to cross illegally, as it is faster than going through the legal process.
Sen. Mazie Hiron said she wants to come up with a comprehensive plan to secure the border, as well as improve the legal immigration process.
“We have a broken immigration system,” Hiron said, noting that the Senate has known this for more than a decade. “Pointing the finger at the Biden administration for any other administration is not going to get us anywhere quickly.”
Democrats have repeatedly said they want a comprehensive plan, especially one that fixes the immigration process so people can enter the country legally. Republicans and Democrats appear to agree that people with serious crimes should be the first to be deported once Trump's mass deportation plan takes effect.
Witness Patty Morin spoke of her daughter Rachel Morin, who was beaten, raped and murdered last year while on a hike. The person allegedly accused of killing her daughter was undocumented and had been accused of killing another woman in El Salvador, as well as attacking a mother and child in California.
Morin said that "the American people should not be afraid to live in their own homes" and that "we have to enforce the laws that are already in place, we have to close our borders. We have to protect American families."
Senator Dick Burns said immigrants "are just like us," with families, careers and roots in the United States. However, he added: "I think everyone would agree that immigrants who have committed a serious crime or have done so before entering the country should be deported."
In that regard, Senator Mazie Hirono said: "I don't think there's anyone sitting here who supports open borders. But we all agree that we need border control... but what are we going to do with the 11 or 13 million undocumented people who are here and who are part of our community?", while she pleaded with the Republican Party to work together on a comprehensive immigration policy.
Senator Alex Padilla of California explained that the United States is still trying to find the parents of children who have been separated by Trump's policies four years later, something that should be of concern to the committee.
Therefore, he said, the committee must be prepared for what the Trump administration will present as its immigration policy.
Padilla spoke of the complexities of the legal process, telling Senator Graham and the entire committee that it is not always "black or white" why a judge denies an immigrant the right to remain in the United States.
The senator recalled that immigrants are not receiving a fair trial due to the immigration department's lack of resources to handle the influx of cases, prolonging trial dates for years, and not giving people the proper representation they need in court.
"I'm all for a process and the finality of a process, the finality of an answer. Clarity about your future in a matter of weeks and months, not years and years. But that requires the federal government to invest in the process, in hearing officers and immigration judges. So let's put that out there if we're going to be genuine and serious about addressing the delays and the problem," he said.
Padilla also referred to Operation Wetback during the Eisenhower Administration and how mass deportation did not achieve what it intended, but rather deported half a million Mexicans and thousands of U.S. citizens of Mexican origin.
"Operation Wetback did not achieve the intended effects of increasing employment rates or wages for American workers," he explained, while recalling that President-elect Donald Trump has said he plans to base his deportations on Operation Wetback.
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