
Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 6 - American Dream and Promise Act of 2019
(House Rules)
(Rep. Roybal-Allard, D-CA, and 232 cosponsors)
The Administration strongly opposes H.R. 6, the American Dream and Promise Act of 2019.
H.R. 6 would incentivize and reward illegal immigration while ignoring and undermining key Administration immigration objectives and policy priorities, such as protecting our communities and defending our borders.
The Administration has put forward proposals to address the status of the hundreds of thousands of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) recipients, but only in the context of actual solutions that would address the underlying problems in our immigration system.
In contrast, H.R. 6 would only exacerbate illegal immigration and the exploitation of our immigration laws by incentivizing more illegal behavior while doing nothing to address the problems at our southern border or broader immigration enforcement efforts. H.R. 6 would also continue the cycle of our broken immigration system that encourages people to break the law at the expense of those who follow the rules. For example, it would explicitly ignore those who proactively committed immigration fraud, which would be a slap in the face to those who chose to enter our country legally and who are currently waiting to become American citizens. Furthermore, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that this legislation will increase budget deficits by more than $30 billion, a cost primarily driven by increased spending on Obamacare subsidies, Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and Federal student aid for this population of newly legalized immigrants.
Rather than sending a signal that will invite more people to illegally enter our country, the Administration urges the Congress to focus on real solutions to address the problems within our immigration system. In the short term, that means providing the supplemental resources the Administration has requested to address the humanitarian crisis at the southern border, including funding for the care of thousands of unaccompanied alien children. It means working to pass legislation to close the loopholes that are driving the current exploitation of our asylum system and that lead to catch and release. It means providing funding for the construction of the wall in priority locations identified by the Border Patrol to impede and deny the flows of illegal immigrants, drugs, and other illicit activities. It means moving toward a merit-based immigration system that prioritizes high-skilled immigration.
No compromise is possible without both sides coming to the table, and no compromise is worthwhile that does not address real underlying problems and improve our immigration system. President Donald J. Trump remains committed to working in a bipartisan manner to fix our immigration system, but the Administration will not accept stand-alone policies that undermine its core immigration policy goals.
If H.R. 6 were presented to the President in its current form, his advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.
Donald J. Trump (1st Term), Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 6 - American Dream and Promise Act of 2019 Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/335295