California Representative, David Valadao, has defended his decision to back a petition that attempts to force the House of Representatives to vote on several proposals for immigration reform, despite objections from the leaders of the Republican Party. He says it is the only way Congress will address an urgent issue, though another House Republican says that the move will hand power to the Democrats, who are in a minority within the House.
On Wednesday, Valadao said the goal of the move is to force Congress to do its job and that while the petition may not be the ideal way to go about it, advocates have waited long enough and the time has come for them to begin doing their job.
Valadao was among the first of the Republicans to put their signature to a bipartisan discharge petition aimed at forcing a debate on several different pieces of immigration legislation that are competing to resolve the issue of the ‘Dreamers’ – young undocumented immigrants previously protected from deportation by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, created in 2012 by President Barack Obama.
President Donald Trump announced that he would end the program in September last year, though the March deadline has stalled due to legal challenges. Paul Ryan, the House Speaker, opposes voting on any legislation that would be vetoed by Trump, who has said he will support a legislative solution to the Dreamer issue only if he gets border wall funding and legal immigration changes.