What’s a network to do when it desperately needs comprehensive immigration reform in order to ensure its long-term survival but the pesky filibuster remains in place despite Democrat control of Congress? Answer: Push hard for Plan B.
Watch as Univision’s Jorge Ramos sets up the rollout of the next immigration gambit: a partial legalization stuffed into the COVID relief bill, and passed via (filibuster proof) budget reconciliation:
JORGE RAMOS: The strategy in 2006, 2007, and 2013 was all or nothing. Either we legalize them all or we don’t get anything. And we got nothing. But you’ve got a strategy. You have a different strategy. What is it?
LORELA PRAELI: That’s right. And so we have to abandon the “all or nothing” strategy. It just hasn’t worked. And if at some point we have more Republicans that want to join the cause, that’s all good. But right now, we see and we need specific actions from the government. One of those strategies is that there are bills that were passed in the House last year. That’s the bill for DREAMers, TPS beneficiaries and farm workers. That is one path that we could take at this time. At the same time, there is an ongoing national debate over (COVID) relief. And so we have a narrow window within these first 3 to 6 months in which to achieve change and (obtain) specific victories. OK, let me talk to you about this. This is called budget reconciliation. This is a process where, if you can show that the proposal would have an impact on the budget of the United States, then the legalization can be included. The important thing here is that it is a proposal, a tool that only requires 51 votes, which is the number of Democratic votes in the Senate, and you don’t have to go find 60 votes.
...
PRAELI: And this budget reconciliation process exists where they can decide to legalize the maximum amount of persons possible, beginning with essential workers.
Lorella Praeli is the current president of Community Change Action, having previously served with the ACLU, the 2016 Clinton presidential campaign, and United We Dream- in other words, part of the activist elite. The interview obviously had no pushback whatsoever as to the notion of whether immigration can even be done via reconciliation, but instead focused on the political gains to be won by using this tactic- which is reminiscent of how Obamacare was ultimately rammed through in 2011. Fast forward 10 years later, where an immigration-laced COVID bill would await Senate Budget Chairman Bernard Sanders of Vermont.
The biggest question left unasked from the interview is this: was COVID relief held up in Congress until it was determined whether or not the Senate filibuster could be abolished so comprehensive immigration reform might pass? The timing of this segment, in coordination with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Budget Chair John Yarmouth requesting the partial amnesty via reconciliation, sure seems convenient. Talk about never letting a crisis go to waste.
And, of course, this is ultimately convenient to Univision's bottom line.
JORGE RAMOS: I think the future of Spanish-language media is assured for decades, simply, for a very simple reason: Despite of the fact that the majority of the growth within the Hispanic community is coming from people being born here, we still have one to two million immigrants, legally and illegally coming in every single year. Most of them speak Spanish. So, therefore, we have a market that is growing and growing.
And I think we can assure you that in the next few decades, you'll see Spanish-language media. That's another topic completely, but the Latino community is keeping so many elements from their country of origin, including Spanish- 9 out of 10 Latinos speak Spanish...speak Spanish at home- that- and we're doing things that Italians didn't do, or Russians, or Eastern Europeans didn't do- and the closeness to our countries of origin and the communications that we have are keeping Spanish-language media alive. And thanks to that, it's a new power that other immigrant communities didn't have in the past.
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Click “expand” to view the full transcript of the aforementioned segment as aired on Univision’s Al Punto on Sunday, January 31st, 2021:
JORGE RAMOS: The previous (comprehensive) immigration reform occurred in 1986, with President Ronald Reagan. At the time amnesty, as it was then called, was granted to 3 million undocumented. But every attempt at immigration reform has failed since. All of them. 2006, 2007, and 2013. And there is now another legalization bill with President Biden, but this time, many organizations are casting off their “all or nothing” strategy, and they believe it is more pragmatic to gradually legalize different groups such as, for example, DREAMers or essential workers. To discuss this new strategy, we’re joined by Lorella Praeli, president of Community Change Action. Lorella, thank you for coming back to the program.
PRAELI: A pleasure to join you, Jorge.
RAMOS: Very well. The strategy in 2006, 2007, and 2013 was all or nothing. Either we legalize them all or we don’t get anything. And we got nothing. But you’ve got a strategy. You have a different strategy. What is it?
PRAELI: That’s right. And so we have to abandon the “all or nothing” strategy. It just hasn’t worked. And if at some point we have more Republicans that want to join the cause, that’s all good. But right now, we see and we need specific actions from the government. One of those strategies is that there are bills that were passed in the House last year. That’s the bill for DREAMers, TPS beneficiaries and farm workers. That is one path that we could take at this time. At the same time, there is an ongoing national debate over (COVID) relief. And so we have a narrow window within these first 3 to 6 months in which to achieve change and (obtain) specific victories. OK, let me talk to you about this. This is called budget reconciliation. This is a process where, if you can show that the proposal would have an impact on the budget of the United States, then the legalization can be included. The important thing here is that it is a proposal, a tool that only requires 51 votes, which is the number of Democratic votes in the Senate, and you don’t have to go find 60 votes.
RAMOS: So then we cast aside the “”all or nothing” approach, and now it’s about legalizing DREAMERS, people with TPS, essential workers and farm workers, but not with immigration reform- but rather through this budget reconciliation process that you describe. In other words, little by little.
PRAELI: That’s right, little by little. Think about how we did it with DACA, DACA wasn’t perfect, but it changed the lives of many people in this country as well as their families, and we know that DACA hasn’t been permanent and it isn’t. And so we have to think, and orient our thinking to the fact that we don’t have four years where the Democrats are in full control of the government, but if they say that essential workers are essential then why are we deporting them? If they say that essential workers are giving their lives for us as we battle COVID, then they have to use their political capital at this time. And this budget reconciliation process exists where they can decide to legalize the maximum amount of persons possible, beginning with essential workers. Now they can’t forget, Jorge, that Biden wouldn’t be in the White House and the Democrats wouldn’t have the Senate majority without our community and our vote. And so they have a debt to our community and it will not be enough to just make promises or file bills.
RAMOS: So at the end of the day, and I’ve got a minute left, at the end of the day you think that the strategy of getting immigration reform for 10 million is too ambitious, there are no Republican votes and other routes have to be considered, very quickly, in 2021.
PRAELI: That’s right. Let’s do all that we can at this moment. And if things change in the Senate, we can continue to go for comprehensive immigration reform. That’s the goal. But for the time being, there are specific steps and specific opportunities where we can legalize 3-5 million people. Let’s not wait. Let’s not waste time. Let us use every tool that is available to us at this time. Let us remember that Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, all those states with narrow margins, they chose to vote a certain way and they’re now waiting for results.
RAMOS: How many millions of dollars are you spending on this campaign?
PRAELI: We’re launching a $30 million dollar campaign. The national campaign is called “Our Home”, and our goal is to truly materialize those gains for the immigrant community and not let any opportunity to achieve them go to waste.
RAMOS: Lorela Praeli, thank you for joining us.
PRAELI: My pleasure, Jorge.
