Patterico's Pontifications

7/25/2019

Arizona Democrat Works To Hasten Removal Of Migrants Without Valid Claim For Asylum

Filed under: General — Dana @ 1:58 pm



[guest post by Dana]

Immigration advocates are strongly opposing this effort by Sen. Krysten Sinema (D-Ariz), as expected:

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is pushing for the implementation of a pilot program along the U.S.-Mexico border that aims to more quickly screen and remove migrant families without valid legal claims for asylum in the United States.

Sinema, D-Ariz., joined a bipartisan group with eight other senators who sent a letter Wednesday to acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan describing their proposed program, dubbed “Operation Safe Return.”

How the program would work:

The program would allow the Department of Homeland Security to deport certain migrants within 15 days, according to the letter, and would help alleviate overcrowding at border facilities, Sinema said.

“This pilot program would apply to families who aren’t claiming ‘credible fear,’ which of course is the first threshold in seeking asylum,” Sinema told The Arizona Republic. “If someone says ‘I left my country because I can’t make a living,’ (or) ‘it’s hard to take care of my family’ — that’s what we call an economic migrant.”

Sinema, who is one of the creators of the program, explained how the program came about:

Sinema said she came up with the idea for the pilot program in response to a meeting with White House and Trump administration officials who she said were focused on changing asylum laws and challenging court rulings like the Flores Settlement Agreement, dictating how the government treats certain migrants.

“I just felt those weren’t the right answers,” Sinema added. “We wanted to solve the problem. We wanted to protect the asylum process for valid applicants … and we want to respect the Flores decision.”

And speaking of Arizona Democrats bucking their Party on immigration, U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kelly flashed his own independent streak when he voiced opposition to making Tuscon a sanctuary city:

Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate Mark Kelly blasted an initiative to make Tucson a “sanctuary city,” saying that he will not vote for the measure.

“(I’m) strongly against this, I’m not going to vote for it,” Kelly said Tuesday, “I think it’s a mistake.”

In November, voters will decide whether Tucson declares itself Arizona’s first “sanctuary city,” which limits local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration agents.

Kelly… said cities and states should follow federal laws.

“This is contrary to that so I’m not in favor of that. I think it’s also detrimental to the City of Tucson in that it could impact some federal funding it receives,” he said.

Ironically, this stand puts him on the same page as his Republican opponent, Sen. Martha McSally.

But Kelly didn’t just buck Democrats on sanctuary city policies: He also said “no” to extending health care to illegal immigrants, a position all of the Democratic presidential candidates support:

‘We’re having a hard time providing good healthcare for all Americans,” Kelly said, “providing free healthcare coverage for folks who are here illegally, I’m just against that.”

Moreover, the Democratic candidate also said he was not in favor of decriminalizing illegal border crossings:

Kelly disagreed with the more progressive candidates in the presidential field who want to decriminalize unauthorized border crossings.

“I am not in favor of decriminalizing that it makes border security more difficult,” he said.

I’m liking these Arizona Democrats.

(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)

–Dana

17 Responses to “Arizona Democrat Works To Hasten Removal Of Migrants Without Valid Claim For Asylum”

  1. Hello.

    Dana (bb0678)

  2. We need more politicians like Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. This is what bipartisanship ought to be.

    McConnell should get this thing queue’ed up and make Democrats shut it down. The longer this goes, the more Democrats would be blamed for the crisis at the border.

    whembly (51f28e)

  3. Excellent post, Dana. It makes me recall what Beldar said about working within a party structure.

    whembly (51f28e) — 7/25/2019 @ 2:28 pm

    I agree, Whembly; we need more bipartisan politicians in both parties. It may be that the electorate has placed pressure on Sinema to adopt this position.

    felipe (023cc9)

  4. “This pilot program would apply to families who aren’t claiming ‘credible fear,’ which of course is the first threshold in seeking asylum,” Sinema told The Arizona Republic.

    It’s a good next step, but migrants aren’t stupid. They will react to this by claiming credible fear every time.

    Munroe (0b2761)

  5. Working both sides comes easy for some.

    mg (8cbc69)

  6. I’d like to see what safeguards are in place to prevent, or at least mitigate that, Munroe.

    Dana (bb0678)

  7. She sure is interesting.

    Does anyone miss the Flake?

    harkin (0f62bd)

  8. She’s listening to the political consultants.

    Me, too never works.

    Sammy Finkelman (102c75)

  9. Drum roll, mg. Of course Buttcreek is the stalking horse, much like Webb was for McCain.

    urbanleftbehind (847a06)

  10. Does anyone miss the Flake?

    Point taken, but to be fair, Sen. Sinema did not vote to confirm Brian Buescher and it’s pretty unlikely she would vote for any Trump Supreme Court nominee. If judges are one reason to bite your tongue and support Trump, the same could be said for Jeff Flake over any Democrat.

    JVW (54fd0b)

  11. If she’s trying to enact policies like this, then I don’t care if she is listening to her consultants. Same with Kelly. They are reminding the public that moderate Dems do exist. Much to the chagrin of the hard-left progressive wing of the Party.

    Dana (bb0678)

  12. “If judges are one reason to bite your tongue and support Trump, the same could be said for Jeff Flake over any Democrat.”

    Good point but just barely. Wasn’t he ready to help torpedo the nomination after being ambushed in an elevator?

    Trying to remember if it was Avanetti’s ridiculous Hail Mary accuser that shook some sense into him.

    harkin (0f62bd)

  13. If the consultants are measuring what the people of Arizona actually want for policy and she’s responding to that, there’s a name for that behavior. It’s called representation. I’m all for it. I’ve been very impressed with Sinema. I don’t agree with her abortion policies, and would prefer an R for judge nominations, but she’s someone I respect.

    An Infrequent Guest (efe459)

  14. Ditto, An Infrequent Guest.

    Dana (bb0678)

  15. This interesting light of Mark Kelly’s statements:

    By a 15-point margin, primary voters favor providing health insurance coverage to undocumented immigrants. Voters overall oppose that by a 28-point margin.

    Decriminalizing entering the U.S. is +10 w Dem primary voters -23 w general electorate

    Dana (bb0678)

  16. Sinema and Kelly are making too much sense. This is not the Democrati way. Call me crazy, but I am not inclined to trust either of them.

    HadEnough (0abe11)

  17. If I’m not mistaken, illegal immigrants can receive medical care by going to any emergency room.

    I would hope that would-be immigrants who are detained by our border security or other law-engorcement agencies would be given medical care for ememrgency conditions as well.

    On the whole, I fully agree with Ms. Sinema and Mr. Kelly with regard to sanctuary cities, decriminalization of illegal border crossings and expedited processing of asylum seekers. These are little more than common sense, and I think they fairly represent the views of the majority of American citizens, regardless of party affiliation.

    John B Boddie (11ac33)


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