House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) claimed Thursday that “God is with” the Democratic Party on the so-called dreamers in Congress.
Pelosi said during a Capitol Hill news conference Thursday that Democrats will fight to protect illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children and who participated in the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. But the House minority leader went a step further when she insisted that God sided with the Democrats and gave them a moral imperative on the issue.
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“We are not going to turn this country into a reign of terror of domestic enforcement and have DACA, the dreamers, pay that price,” Pelosi said. “But I’m optimistic — I always have been. God is with us on this. Our country is great. We know that greatness springs from the vitality that newcomers bring to our country.”
A Pelosi spokesperson could not be reached for the scriptural basis of the minority leader’s claim that “God is with us” on DACA and dreamers — beneficiaries of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. Pelosi’s comment came as lawmakers face a Saturday deadline for approving a new temporary continuing budget resolution.
Congressional Republicans also sympathize with the dreamers’ plight, but Democrats’ opposition to strict immigration enforcement measures, timely deportations of illegal immigrants, and key border security measures make resolving the spending issue extremely difficult, if not impossible.
Related: Immigration Hawks Offer DACA Compromise
“Either [Republicans] have the votes or they don’t have the votes today,” Pelosi said. “But we have been outspoken about what our priorities are, and this is a fight that is a fight for our country.”
Pelosi also said Democrats “will not leave” Capitol Hill for the December recess “without a DACA fix” through the passage of the DREAM Act. She listed emergency disaster relief funding, a children’s health care program, and opioid crisis-relief funding as priority issues for the House minority.
“Democrats are not willing to shut government down,” Pelosi insisted.
PoliZette writer Kathryn Blackhurst can be reached at [email protected].
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