The Daily 202: DACA reaction shows how immigration has become a litmus test for Democrats
By James Hohmann September 6 at 7:13 AM
THE BIG IDEA: The House passed a Dream Act in 2010 that would have allowed illegal immigrants to apply for citizenship if they entered the United States as children, graduated from high school or got an equivalent degree, and had been in the United States for at least five years.
Five moderate Democrats in the Senate voted no. If each of them had supported it, the bill would have become law, DACA would have been unnecessary, and this manufactured political crisis now facing Congress would have been averted.
Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) is the only one of those five Democrats still left in the upper chamber. Two lost reelection in 2014 (Kay Hagan in North Carolina and Mark Pryor in Arkansas), and two retired (Ben Nelson in Nebraska and Max Baucus in Montana). West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin said he would have opposed the bill, but he skipped the vote.
Despite being up for reelection next year in a state that Donald Trump carried by 21 points, Tester spoke out yesterday against the president’s decision to end the DACA program. Compare the news release he sent out after his “no” vote seven years ago to what he said last night:
“Illegal immigration is a critical problem facing our country, but amnesty is not the solution,” he said in Dec. 2010. “I do not support legislation that provides a path to citizenship for anyone in this country illegally.”
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2017/09/06/daily-202-daca-reaction-shows-how-immigration-has-become-a-litmus-test-for-democrats/59af142730fb04264c2a1ced/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_daily202-730a%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.549936196983
