The New Way Forward Act

After 9/11, we were made aware of the immigration laws which allowed overstay of Visas, thus allowing the terrorists to hit the Twin Towers and Pentagon. We lost thousands of Americans on that fateful day. It included those on Flight 93 in that lonely field in Pennsylvania. Since 9/11, we have not had a major attack on our soil since many of the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission were enacted. These safety nets may change if we do not stand together on this issue. Regardless of party affiliation or your feelings for President Trump, H. R. 5383 (The New Way Forward Act) was introduced on December 10, 2019 that makes us unsafe once again. It was introduced by:

Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois (for himself, Ms. JAYAPAL, Ms. BASS, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. HAALAND, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. ESCOBAR, Ms. OMAR, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. RUSH, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. TAKANO, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. MENG, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. SERRANO, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. NORTON, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. CA ´ RDENAS, Mr. BROWN of Maryland, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. CORREA, and Mr. MEEKS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

1) This bill makes significant changes to immigration enforcement, including ending mandatory detention in certain cases. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shall not enter into or extend any contract with any public or private for-profit entity to own or operate a facility to detain aliens in DHS custody.

2) The bill repeals provisions providing criminal penalties for improper entry or reentry into the United States. It decriminalizes unauthorized entry. The bill also removes certain crime-related grounds of inadmissibility and deportability.

3) State or local officers are prohibited from performing certain immigration enforcement functions, such as apprehending aliens. The National Crime Information Center database shall not contain an alien's immigration information.

4) The bill provides for various protections related to detaining aliens, such as (1) requiring DHS to make an initial custody determination and establish probable cause within 48 hours of taking an alien into custody, (2) establishing in hearings related to such determinations a presumption that the alien be released, and (3) requiring immigration judges to impose the least restrictive detention conditions necessary.

5) The bill removes mandatory detention requirements for certain aliens, such as asylum seekers with a credible fear of persecution.

Essentially, the bill allows for our borders to be open while prohibiting any action by state and local agencies while decimalizing unauthorized entry. This is no way forward but a sure method of ensuring we no longer have a country. While I agree we should have immigration reform, this bill, in their own words, is eliminating our current system of immigration enforcement.

“Civil immigration warrants shall not be made available to the officers or employees of any State, or any political subdivision of a State, through the National Crime Information Center database or its incorporated criminal history databases. Federal, State, and local law enforcement officials are prohibited from entering into the National Crime Information Center database or its incorporated criminal history databases information that relates to an alien’s immigration status, the existence of a prior removal, deportation, or voluntary departure order entered against an alien, or any allegations of civil violations of the immigration laws. Any information described in this paragraph that is in the National Crime Information Center database shall be removed from such database not later than 90 days after the enactment of the New Way Forward Act.’’

The above passage is one of many aspects that will make us unsafe. While this bill may never pass, we cannot forget those who supported such a bill. They each took this oath: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God." This New Way Forward Bill does not defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. In fact, it does the very opposite.

I understand people want the immigration system to be fair. This bill does nothing to ensure legal immigrants are treated fairly, so we should begin by admitting those who have applied legally in an expedited fashion. We should reduce the cost for those who entered legally. Lastly, we should have a bill that requires the assimilation of all immigrants into our society. Otherwise, we place each undocumented person at risk for exploitation. We should send those back who have committed crimes as our law requires.

While assimilation is considered racist these days, it is dangerous to admit millions of people into the country unless they want to assimilate. It is the conflict of visions for our country that we face. Thomas Sowell, who is an American economist and social theorist who is currently a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, refers to this as the “constrained vision of man” in his book, A Conflict of Visions. The conflict of visions assumes two “basic conceptions of the nature of man” which have contended with each other since the 18th century. He calls them the constrained and unconstrained visions, and he defines them in the following manner:

The constrained vision takes human nature as given, and sees social outcomes as a function of (1) the incentives presented to individuals and (2) the conditions under which they interact in response to those incentives. . . .In the unconstrained vision, human nature itself is a variable, and in fact, the central variable to be changed. You only need to look at the preamble of the Constitution to understand why we need a constrained vision of these issues: “We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

To that end, we must ensure assimilation for those entering our country to ensure this end regardless of immigration status. If not, we do them and ourselves an injustice. We cannot secure domestic tranquility with an unequal application of the law. The blessings of liberty and prosperity can only be obtained when people seek it and achieve in a society that does not rely on government handouts. Government programs serve to empower the government itself regardless of intention. The reason is that the government is filled with human beings, who are flawed by their very nature. It is the reason we have checks and balances in the government. It is also the reason that the Founders wanted to restrict the government in size and scope.

Our general welfare, as a country, is at risk when an unconstrained vision becomes the standard. Although I have faith that most people see the need to remain steadfast in the face of a few voices wanting to “fundamentally change our society,” which is a common perspective of the unconstrained vision, especially among the 2020 Candidates and many in Congress. We should strive to stay informed and let our Representative know that the “New Way Forward is Not the Way Forward.” We should never forget those we lost on 9/11 and those we lost fighting those terrorists still today.