Ted Cruz says his bill to stop DACA would end border crisis

Some Republicans say they’ll only approve President Barack Obama’s request for $3.7 billion in emergency funding to address the unaccompanied minors crisis if removal proceedings of migrant children are expedited. Others say they’ll support it if more is done to secure the border.

But Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is pushing for more.

On Thursday, he introduced legislation to prevent the Obama administration from expanding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program preventing more undocumented immigrants from being approved for the federal program. He wants his bill to pass as a condition for Congress’ approval of Obama’s $3.7 billion supplemental request.

SEE ALSO: Hispanic Caucus to Obama: Ensure migrant children receive due process

Announced in 2012, the DACA program protects undocumented youth from deportation and grants them work authorization. More than 553,000 undocumented young immigrants have been approved for DACA.

Cruz said his bill would help stem the flood of unaccompanied minors coming to the United States. More than 57,500 unaccompanied minors — the vast majority of them coming from Central America — have been apprehended at the border since October, more than doubling last year’s numbers.

“The only way to stop the border crisis is to stop President Obama’s amnesty,” he said. “If we do not put an end to its expansion — to the promise of amnesty that is the reason so many are coming — then more little boys and girls will be trafficked, abused, and even killed.”

The Texas Republican also argued that the influx of unaccompanied minors is a “direct result” of Obama’s decision to create the DACA program.

Other Republicans, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), share the same belief. Rubio told Fox News host Bill O’Reilly on Wednesday that the implementation of the DACA program “sent the message that actually invited people to come, and you see the disaster that has followed.”

Meanwhile, the Obama administration and child advocates argue that the increasing violence and poverty in Central America is what’s driving children and families to flee their home countries and migrate to the U.S.

SEE ALSO: Women helping child migrants as they make their way to the U.S.

Speaking on the Senate floor Thursday morning, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid criticized Cruz for making it his “top priority” to end the DACA program.

“The deferred action plan is a positive step forward, and we should not go back, especially not as a ransom for helping our Border Patrol care for desperate children,” Reid said. “These children are real – real human beings. They should not be used as pawns in Republicans’ high-stakes game of chicken with President Obama.”

Reid also referred to Cruz’s proposal to prevent the expansion of DACA as “cruel and unusual,” arguing that it would result in the deportation of undocumented youth who grew up in the U.S.

Lorella Praeli, director of advocacy and policy for United We Dream, also blasted Cruz for wanting to do away with the DACA program. She went a step further and criticized Republicans for “seeking to blame DACA and gut the one notable immigration success story of recent decades.”

“The Republican Party is morally bankrupt and politically stupid if they think the right answer to crisis of child refugees fleeing violence in Central America is to end DACA and deport Dreamers,” Praeli said in a statement.

But Frazier clarified that Cruz’s proposal would not impact undocumented youth who’ve already been approved for DACA. Instead, she told the National Review Online that it would “stop the president from being able to expand it as we have heard he wants to do.”

SEE ALSO: KKK uses unaccompanied minors crisis to recruit members