Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said Wednesday night on MSNBC’s “All In” that Democrats are most concerned about “undocumented Americans.”
Anchor Chris Hayes said, “I’ve been covering this issue for 20 years, and they want more border security, and the Democrats want a path to citizenship.” There was no path to rights. It was completely on their terms to get Ukrainian funding.”
Murphy said: “Well, Chris, that’s a play that’s been failing for 20 years. I mean, that’s probably been the Democratic Party’s strategy for 30 years, and the people we care about most, the undocumented people in this country. You’re right that we haven’t been able to get that to Americans. This isn’t 2013 anymore. Back then, when we last performed that play, hundreds of people were applying for asylum every day. Now there are days when 8,000 people gather together. And the reality is that the majority of people in this country don’t think that’s right or sustainable, and they don’t want to change the reality at their borders. I’m here.”
He added: “So I know there’s a temptation for Democrats, and I know you weren’t looking for this debate, but it’s the same thing we always do because we know how to do it.” I think there’s a temptation to just carry on with the strategy, but when that doesn’t work, and when countries are actually demanding that we do something to make their borders more manageable, we have I think we have a right and a responsibility to adapt to that reality. Now, this bill still contains things that are very important to immigrant rights, like representation rights, early work permits, and the largest visa expansion in 30 years. It was.”
Murphy added, “This is not a path to citizenship, but it’s important to people who actually care about immigration. But at the end of the day, all of this didn’t matter because… Because Republicans are absolutely allergic to solving the border issue, because they’re used to this being an issue every election year. They just can’t give it up in the end. So they asked James Lankford to cut this deal, and he did exactly what they asked. Mitch McConnell was there throughout the negotiations, but at the end Even Mitch McConnell voted against it. Today, only three others joined James Lankford in supporting the bipartisan border amendment bill.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
