WASHINGTON, DC — The conservative anti-immigrant campaign went into overdrive today as Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz used his first hearing as a Judiciary subcommittee chairman to attack immigration relief programs.
The Capitol Hill hearing, headlined by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the architect of “self-deportation” policy, and anti-immigration, racial profiling laws in Arizona and Alabama, coincided with a Texas federal district court hearing in the lawsuit by 26 conservative-led states to President Obama’s immigration initiatives.
Cruz, who heads a Senate panel overseeing federal courts, brought in Kobach to argue against the president’s expansion of the 2012 DACA program and the new DAPA initiative for parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. Conservatives are seeking to dismantle the initiatives through the courts or in Congress, through legislation that would defund the programs or strip the president’s authority to carry them out.
“Senator Cruz keeps ignoring the fact that the path to the White House goes through the Latino community, and Latino voters — regardless of party — oppose the anti-immigrant politics of Cruz and his allies,” said Ben Monterroso, executive director of Mi Familia Vota. “Kobach’s endorsement of 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, doomed him with Latino voters, and his continued presence at the side of conservative presidential candidates will not be ignored by the Latino community.
Monterroso said the same holds true for the politicians in the states that brought the lawsuit challenging the immigration relief and strategically filed the lawsuit in South Texas, with the intent of securing favorable rulings. The expanded DACA and DAPA, which is scheduled to begin in mid-May, were blocked by the Texas judge, but the ruling has been appealed to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
During Thursday’s court hearing on a side issue, dozens of immigrants’ rights advocates rallied outside.
“When the elections come, we’re going to remember this,” said Selene Gomez, a Mi Familia Vota civic engagement coordinator in Texas.
“The Latino community will never forget how the governors and attorneys general in these states blocked the timely start of the DACA expansion program,” Monterroso added. “We know that Republicans are using a friendly court to play shameful politics with our community.”
Learn more about DACA & DAPA at iAmerica.org
