The bill seeks to change the Refugee Act by putting a floor of 110,000 refugees as the minimum number to be admitted annually (among a Christmas tree of other provisions).
If you are saying, well, ho-hum, won’t go anywhere with Trump in the White House and the Senate controlled by Republicans, you need to take a broader view.
This is what the savvy Leftists do—they stake out their dream territory for the day when Trump is gone. He will be gone sooner or later. But, in the meantime they use initiatives like this one to keep their base engaged and it ticks me off because conservatives are always playing defense to their offense.
Where are the bills that could stake out a position on the immigration restriction side—-heck how about a bill calling for a moratorium on all immigration to America!
It won’t happen of course, but it would be a way to energize the base and lay down a marker.
The New Deal for New Americansis a marker the Open Borders Left is throwing down! It is to attract media attention and to move the needle in that direction—in the direction of their ultimate goal, a borderless world!
Mass. immigrant advocates join Sen. Ed Markey to celebrate introduction of visionary New Deal for New Americans Act
Markey and Millona at press event announcing bill. Media opportunity? How many media outlets were even in attendance? Doesn’t matter because they make it look like there is press in the room. It is all for show.
Dozens of advocates and leaders of immigrant- and refugee-serving organizations joined U.S. Senator Edward J. Markey at Agencia ALPHA today to celebrate the introduction of the New Deal for New Americans in the U.S. Senate.
The bill, which is strongly supported by the National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA), co-chaired by MIRA Executive Director Eva A. Millona, was introduced in the House last October and has 39 cosponsors so far, including U.S. Reps. Ayanna Pressley, James McGovern and Joseph P. Kennedy III.
It would provide federal leadership to increase access to citizenship; support local organizations that welcome newcomers; expand high-quality workforce development and English-language programs; increase access to legal counsel; and embrace America’s global role as a refuge.
To give these issues greater prominence and institutional support, it would also create a National Office on New Americans to lead a federal inclusion and integration strategy coordinated with state and local governments and community stakeholders.
[….]
A key provision of the bill would be to eliminate the annual ceiling for refugee admissions,which has dropped precipitously under the Trump administration, to just 18,000 for fiscal 2020, and replace it with a floor. The minimum annual admissions would be 110,000 – the same as the ceiling set by former President Obama for fiscal 2017 – to recognize America’s role as a refuge for people from around the world.
For new readers: the Refugee Act of 1980, which will be 40 years old on March 17th, gives the power to the President to set a ceiling for refugee admissions.
They don’t want to take the chance that another President like Trump would have that power. You need to know that Obama never came anywhere near 110,000 either. According to the Refugee Processing Center, his average annual admissions number was 69,946 over his 8 years in office.
