You May Be Surprised to See What an Analysis of Congress’ Immigration Votes Revealed

FAIR released its Congressional Voting Report for the 113^th Congress tracked members’ votes on immigration-related legislation. A thorough analysis of the report revealed an unprecedented divide in opinion between parties. Democrats, uniformly, fell into line with President Obama’s amnesty and open borders agenda, while significant numbers of Republicans in both chambers also backed amnesty and the importation of more foreign workers. Among the report’s key findings:

House of Representatives

• 37% of all members voted consistently for enforcement-oriented legislation
• 70% of Republicans and 0% of Democrats voted consistently for enforcement-oriented legislation
• 34% of the House had mixed voting records (pushed for both amnesty and enforcement), including 30% of Republicans and 37% of Democrats
• 29% of total members opposed all enforcement-oriented legislation
• 0% of Republicans voted against all of the bills but 63% of Democrats opposed all enforcement-oriented legislation 

Senate

• 23% of all Senators voted consistently for enforcement-oriented legislation
• 51% of Republicans and 0% of Democrats voted consistently for enforcement-oriented legislation
• 34% of all Senators had mixed voting records (pushed for both amnesty and enforcement), including 49% of Republicans and 23% of Democrats
• 43% of all Senators consistently opposed all enforced-oriented legislation
• 0% of Republicans and 77% of Democrats voted consistently to oppose enforcement-oriented legislation

While there were certainly some members who stood out in their defense of the interests of the American people, the overall immigration policy record of the 113^th Congress did little to speak on behalf of constituents. Hopefully, the 114^th Congress will do a better job of serving and representing the public at it is supposed to.