Last night, Representative Darrell Issa became the first endangered Republican to voice his opposition to the bipartisan DREAM Act. Speaking to the San Diego Union-Tribune, he told the paper that he would vote “NO” on the DREAM Act – a bill that would permanently protect and legalize DREAMers being threatened by President Trump’s Administration.
This is a direct contradiction to an earlier statement where Issa said that he was “eager to work on a permanent fix.”
Prominent national immigration organizations and lawmakers working to protect DREAMers have called on Congress to pass a clean DREAM Act – and criticized plans like Issa’s that would compromise DREAMers’ security. California has the largest number of DACA recipients in the country and passing the DREAM Act is the only solution that will protect these 800,000 law-abiding young people.
Let’s be clear: Darell Issa was never a moderate on immigration, and this announcement against the DREAM Act only reinforces his long track record of wanting to deport DREAMers:
- Issa voted F–I–V–E! times to end DACA.
- Issa voted againstthe DREAM Act in the first place.
- Issa appeared at an anti-immigrant hate group in June
- Issa co-sponsored bill to end birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants.
“Rep. Issa has never been serious about being a part of the solution for our broken immigration system and his long track record of voting to deport DREAMers proves it,” said DCCC Spokesperson and proud DREAMer Javier Gamboa.“Issa should be ashamed for again turning his back on DREAMers with his opposition to the DREAM Act. Issa is sending a clear message to the hundreds of thousands of law-abiding California DREAMers and his constituents that he doesn’t care about finding meaningful solutions to protect them. Make no mistake, they will remember this heartless decision at the ballot box in 2018.”