(INSIDE CALIFORNIA POLITICS) — U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff joined Inside California Politics this week to discuss President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and new legislation that would provide a pathway to legal status for millions of undocumented immigrants with long-term residency in the United States.
Padilla is expected to formally introduce legislation on Monday that, if passed, would provide access to lawful permanent resident status by advancing the date for eligibility under immigration registry. After its creation in 1929, Congress advanced the registry date four times, most recently in 1986, when the date was set at January 1, 1972. Only non-citizens who entered the United States by that date are eligible to apply for permanent resident status through registry. The date is now so far in the past that few individuals are eligible. Padilla said he has not secured support from any of his republican colleagues.
“Look, it may be tough. It certainly will be a lot of work, but I think the time is now,” Padilla said. “Let me be clear, if they truly were only focusing on dangerous, violent criminals, as Donald Trump likes to say repeatedly, there would be no debate, there would be no discussion. But what we are seeing on a daily basis is the reality that the majority of the people being arrested, being detained, being deported have no violent criminal history.”
Padilla’s comments were echoed by U.S. Senator Adam Schiff, who claimed immigration enforcement agencies are being dishonest about who they’re targeting for deportation.
“They said they were going to focus on violent criminals. They’re not. They’re just grabbing people, grabbing sometimes citizens as well as non-citizens. And we’re seeing all the heartbreak,” Schiff said.
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