WASHINGTON – Senate Democrats blocked an
amendment to last
night’s partisan budget resolution by Sen. Chuck Grassley
(R-Iowa) that would have prohibited illegal immigrants charged or convicted of
crimes from receiving lawful permanent resident status in the United States.
“We shouldn’t allow criminals to enter our
country and become American citizens. Plain and simple,” Grassley said. “I was glad to author this commonsense amendment to
help ensure we don’t reward people who have a track record of breaking the law.
Unfortunately, my Democratic colleagues all voted against this amendment and
halted our efforts to stop criminal illegal immigrants from receiving
citizenship.”
This comes as the crisis at the
U.S.-Mexico border has
escalated
with U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountering 188,829 people at the southern
border in June. That is up 471 percent from the same time last year. Encounters
with unaccompanied children were up 802 percent and family unit encounters were
up 3,224 percent from last June.
Furthermore, many congressional Democrats support
amnesty legislation containing numerous loopholes and waivers that would allow
illegal immigrants with criminal records to be eligible for lawful permanent
resident status.
Grassley spoke about his amendment on the
Senate floor. The video can be found
HERE.