Sen. Cruz: We Must Put a Stop to President Obama’s Amnesty and Give Governors All Options Possible to Mitigate This Crisis

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, today introduced the Protect Children and Families Through the Rule of Law Act, which includes measures that would stop President Obama’s amnesty, reform the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Act, and empower governors to utilize the National Guard to address this specific crisis at federal expense, including authority to arrest violators of federal immigration, drug trafficking, human trafficking, and terrorism laws. 

“The current situation in the Rio Grande Valley is a humanitarian crisis of this Administration’s making. President Obama set the stage for this crisis by refusing to live up to his most basic responsibility to secure our border, imposing huge human and financial costs on border communities and on immigrants who come here illegally,” Sen. Cruz said. “He has also sent a message to the world that the United States is not serious about enforcing its immigration laws by lawlessly granting amnesty through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program.  To solve this problem, we must put a stop to President Obama’s amnesty and give governors all options possible to mitigate this crisis in light of the federal government’s inaction.”

Sen. Cruz’s bill would specifically:

• Prevent the expansion of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) by preventing any taxpayer funds from being used to consider or adjudicate any new or previously denied application under DACA or a similar successor program.
  • The facts demonstrate that DACA is a significant motivating factor for the number of Central American children being handed over to violent criminals and taking the dangerous journey to enter the United States illegally. 
  • Yet, President Obama has announced his intention to expand DACA and grant amnesty to even more immigrants who entered the country illegally.  In recent months, he has asked DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson and Attorney General Eric Holder to provide him with justifications for more executive actions, and he has promised pro-illegal immigration groups that he will expand DACA to cover 5 to 6 million more immigrants who entered the country illegally.
• Reform the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act so that unaccompanied minors can be expeditiously united with their families back home. 
  • Under current law, unaccompanied minors are being released to purported relatives with just a promise to appear later for deportation proceedings. Often they do not appear and, if they do, the removal proceedings can delay reunion to their family back home by years.
  • This bill would protect the safety of these children and ensure their attendance at a new, expedited hearing within seven days of the child’s processing.  This expedited process is designed to protect against human trafficking, preserve due process for those who have a legitimate claim to asylum or other relief, and facilitate expeditious return of those children who are ineligible to stay to their families in the country of origin.
• Take steps to ensure that State and local officials have the resources necessary to protect the people in their communities, enabling them to act on their own to secure the border.
  • This bill would empower governors to utilize the National Guard at federal expense to address the current deluge of unaccompanied minors until the number of such arrivals return to pre-crisis levels. 
  • It would also provide the National Guard with authority to arrest violators of federal immigration, drug trafficking, human trafficking, and terrorism laws.

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