FAIR-Led Coalition Instrumental in Killing Amnesty and Cheap Labor Legislation

Lame duck sessions of Congress – after elections have been held, but before the new Congress convenes – are always a time for legislative mischief, and this year was no exception. Democrats saw December as one last opportunity to enact amnesty for as many illegal aliens as they thought they could get away with, and open the spigot of foreign labor for powerful business interests, while they still controlled both chambers and the White House.

Thanks in large part to a broad coalition of groups dedicated to protecting the interests of the American people in immigration policy, those efforts were turned back. With Republicans poised to regain the majority in the House of Representatives in January, the coalition urged the GOP leadership to stand firm in opposition to post-election efforts to further undermine the interests of the American people and prepare to confront the Biden administration’s sabotage of immigration enforcement in the new year.

In particular, the outgoing Democratic leadership of the 117th Congress sought to use the lame duck session to pass the so-called DREAM Act amnesty, which would allow millions of illegal aliens who entered the country as minors to gain citizenship. That bill was first introduced in 2000 and has failed to gain passage in Congress ever since. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who first authored the DREAM Act more than 20 years ago, was frank about his intent. “We know that it’s important in December, that we pass the DREAM Act — December of this year when we return from Thanksgiving — because if the House moves, as we think it might politically, it becomes increasingly difficult after the first of the year to take up this issue,” he said.

Also on the open borders lobby’s lame duck wish list was a second amnesty benefiting illegal alien relatives of current and former U.S. military service members. Another priority was passage of The Eagle Act, which would have eliminated per-country caps for employment green cards. In doing so, it would undermine country of origin diversity, further strengthening foreign workers’ place in the American labor force and doing nothing to prevent big business from continuing to displace Americans with “temporary” foreign workers.

Due to the proactive efforts of the FAIR-led coalition, none of these backdoor efforts succeeded, leaving the door open to the new House leadership to focus their attention, oversight power, and funding authority on addressing the Biden-induced border disaster.

Among the 15 high profile groups joining FAIR in this effort were The Heritage Foundation, Judicial Watch, Texas Public Policy, The Eagle Forum, NumbersUSA, and The National Border Patrol Council (the union representing frontline Border Patrol agents). Also supporting the demand to yield to the demands of the amnesty and cheap labor lobbies were former high level Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials and members of Congress, including former Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf; Mark Morgan former Acting Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection; Tom Homan, former Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Rodney Scott, former Chief of the Border Patrol; and Lamar Smith, former chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

In a letter to congressional leaders, the coalition stated that ending the chaos at the border and holding the Biden administration accountable is the most pressing matter at hand, and that efforts to use the lame duck session to placate the demands of the open borders lobby must be rejected. “The 118th Congress will gavel in during the midst of the worst border crisis in American history, entirely caused by the Biden Administration’s open-borders policies and the complete and utter failure of the 117th Congress to hold them accountable,” stated the coalition letter.

“The first step in reaching this goal, however, must be to stop the problem from getting worse. In particular, we are deeply concerned about the immediate danger posed by the lame duck session of Congress that is now underway. Even though power is about to change hands in one chamber, various media outlets report there will be attempts to push damaging immigration legislation such as a mass amnesty and increased immigration through Congress over the next few weeks,” the letter continued. Instead, coalition members urged “the new Congress to pass a strong border security bill, undertake aggressive oversight, and use purse-string authority to rescind funds that further Biden’s open-borders agenda.”

With the 118th Congress now underway, the coalition will now turn its attention to ensuring that these public priorities are addressed.