Republicans on the panel voted down a series of proposed amendments from Democrats, including one that would bar the deportation of U.S. citizens, with Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) calling it “batshit crazy” that such a resolution would even be needed to stem the tide of problematic deportations.
Beyond the immigration priorities in the bill, Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) drew attention to the very last provision of the bill — one that would limit the ability of courts to enforce contempt orders issued against the Trump administration. Goldman accused the Trump administration of flouting a Supreme Court directive to “facilitate” the return of mistakenly deported man Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
“You would think that [my Republican colleagues] would say, ‘Huh, let’s make sure that our president is actually following court orders, because if he’s not following court orders, then why would anyone else follow court orders – and our entire system breaks down.’ That is clearly what Donald Trump wants to do. He wants to be a king who gets to make all of these decisions himself,” he said.