Bernie Sanders was in El Paso this past weekend trying to rally further support for his nomination for the Democrat ticket. Like El Paso, Sanders talks about supporting the immigration plight when looking for votes. But when it mattered, Bernie Sanders voted against immigration reform.
In 2007, a Republican president, George W. Bush, signaled to the Democrats, who controlled both houses of Congress that he wanted a substantial immigration bill to sign into law.
The Democrats cobbled together a substantial bi-partisan immigration reform bill that overcame the Republican threatened filibuster. The proposed bill offered a pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrants already in the United States and work permits for immigrants wanting to come work in America.
In addition to many Republicans who opposed the legislation were the AFL-CIO and LULAC. Yes, the League of United Latin American Citizens opposed the bill. LULAC and the AFL-CIO opposed it because of the guest worker permits. The Republicans that supported the bill, who were needed to overcome a filibuster, wanted the guest worker program in the bill.
On the final closure vote at the Senate, the legislation needed only 14 votes to become law. The final vote was 16 Democrats who voted along with the Republicans to kill the bill. One of those who voted to kill the bill was Bernie Sanders.
Bernie Sanders argues his support of immigrants but when it came time to vote on an immigration reform bill, he killed with his vote.
