Calling President Trump’s decision to end DACA, “appalling,” Sen. Patty Murray, the third-ranking Democrat in the US Senate, challenged Republican leaders to defy party orthodoxy by voting on a permanent legislative solution to help the children of undocumented immigrants who were brought the United States by their parents.
“My advice to Paul Ryan is follow your heart,” Murray told David Axelrod on “The Axe Files,” a podcast produced by the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN. “I think that if he follows his heart and tells his Republican caucus ‘those of you who can’t vote with this fine, but we’re going to bring it to the floor, and we’re going to vote on it,” he will get the votes for it,” said Murray.
Murray emphasized that fixing the problem was not an issue of having enough votes in Congress, but a question of Speaker Paul Ryan’s and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s own willingness to lead their colleagues to do what she said they knew was right.
“I know that if they bring it up for a vote that we will be able to permanently pass the policy. This is going to take leadership. You know what, Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell’s problem is not the votes on this. It’s the leadership. You have to be willing to say this is what’s right for my country rather than ‘I’m worried if I bring this up that I’ll get voted out of my leadership position.’ People want leaders,” Murray said. “They want people to speak from their heart. They want them to do the right thing. They don’t want them to play politics. And I think we’ve got the votes if we have two leaders who will bring it up.”
Ryan has said he thinks some sort of compromise on DACA is possible, but has suggested the compromise would include border security measures as well.
Murray noted that Ryan, who she had previously collaborated with on a long-sought, bipartisan budget deal in 2013, knew that Trump’s decision to end DACA would have a significant human cost for the children of undocumented immigrants, who are often referred to as “Dreamers.”
“He knows what’s right to do here. He knows the impact this will have to children and families in our country. Some 800,000 young people who came here know no other country, know no other language, no other family or home,” she added.
She cited the Republican Party’s longtime adherence to the so-called “Hastert Rule,” an unwritten policy which requires a majority of Republican legislators to support a bill before it can be voted on, as one of the obstacles to clarifying the immigration of status of people affected by DACA, an issue that Congress has been unable to solve for 16 years.
Trump’s decision to light a fuse on DACA and jeopardize protections for the the 800,000 individuals protected by it drew strong criticism from Murray, who said that she was “appalled” that Trump “is using this as some kind of wedge issue campaign promise to his voters to get done rather than for the right reasons.” Murray accused Trump, who has maintained that he has “great heart,” and “great love” for Dreamers, of trying “to bully Congress” into fixing a problem that he created, and that his attempt to solve it with “some kind of threat,” was the wrong way to approach it.
Trump, for his part, has tweeted that those under temporary legal status through DACA should not worry during the 6-month period while Congress tries to find a permanent solution. If Congress can’t find a solution, he tweeted he would reassess the situation.