Sen. Jeff Flake bill would tie 'dreamer' extension to enforcement
Sen. Jeff Flake has introduced legislation that would extend deportation protections to "dreamers" for three years while at the same time tightening enforcement on criminal undocumented immigrants in the country.
Flake, R-Ariz., unveiled his Securing Active and Fair Enforcement Act, or SAFE Act, Friday as the Senate was preparing to adjourn for the year. He said the bill would serve as a marker that incoming Trump administration officials and others could review over the holidays before it is re-introduced when the new Congress convenes in early January.
"It's 'safe' for dreamers and it's also 'safe' for Arizonans," Flake said in a telephone conference call with the media. "So it will protect both."
Flake's bill so far has been overshadowed by another, bipartisan bill to protect dreamers — young undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children — offered Friday by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill., called the BRIDGE Act, or Bar Removal of Individuals who Dream and Grow our Economy Act.
That bill, which Flake has signed onto as a co-sponsor, also would protect dreamers from deportation and provide them work authorization for three years if, as is widely anticipated, President Donald Trump kills the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program that President Barack Obama created via executive action.
"I've always thought that any child who is brought across the border by their parents, through no fault of their own, ought to be treated differently than others," Flake said. "They're contributing to society. They're going to school. Some of them have graduated and are working. Some of them have entered the military and been discharged honorably. Those are the kind of people we want here, and we ought to protect them."
But he suggested his SAFE Act might better "thread the needle" of political realities in the coming Trump era, in which the White House, House of Representatives and Senate are all Republican-controlled, by including an enforcement component, too.
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Flake's legislation incorporates a previous bill from Flake and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., titled the Criminal Alien Deportation Act. It would force the Department of Homeland Security to hold — and not release — undocumented immigrants convicted of or arrested for major crimes. Immigration authorities would be required deport the criminal immigrants within 90 days.
In making his case, Flake referred to a January 2015 incident in which Grant Ronnebeck, a clerk at a QuikTrip convenience store in Mesa, is believed to have been shot and killed by an immigrant who had been released on bond as he was facing deportation proceedings.
The two-pronged bill, Flake said, would then allow Congress to come up with a broader, more far-reaching response to the immigration issue.
"Certainly, the president-elect has talked a lot about dealing with criminal aliens, and certainly we support him on that," said Flake, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has oversight on immigration. "I believe that we can, and will, work with the Trump administration on this. ... It needs to be done through legislation, not executive action. So we need to act in Congress and this gives us time to do so."
Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake talks about his visit to Mexico
Some dreamers don’t like the idea of mixing protections for DACA recipients with immigration-enforcement actions because it pits one group of undocumented people against another.
“The reality is it’s just dividing us more. It’s not really providing a solution for what our community needs,” said Reyna Montoya, 26, a Gilbert resident.
She fears Flake’s bill, though intended to quickly deport dangerous criminals, could lead to the removal of undocumented immigrants convicted of non-violent felonies, such as those arrested on suspicion of using fake work documents during Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s worksite raids.
Brought to the U.S. by her parents from Mexico when she was 13, Montoya first received DACA in November 2012. She has renewed it twice. Her current DACA will expire in October 2018. With it, she said, she was able to earn a master’s degree in secondary education from Grand Canyon University and buy a house.
Montoya prefers Graham and Durbin's BRIDGE Act. That bill also “is not good enough, but it’s a good first step,” she said.