UPDATED: Cramer Appears to Endorse Family Separation Policy in Misleading Statement

Late yesterday, Congressman Kevin Cramer released a statement that seemed to endorse the administration’s chosen policy of separating children from their families. The statement came shortly before audio was made public of these same children crying in fear. His statement lacked awareness of the trauma this policy has on these young children, shows little regard for the truth on how this barbaric policy can be corrected, and omitted attempted immigration reform history.

In typical Cramer fashion, he attempts to blame Democrats for politicizing this policy. He claims the way to correct the policy is by passing “comprehensive border security reform.” There are a couple of things that need correction. First, Republicans control all of Congress and the White House. They can introduce whatever reform they want. Their failure lies in the fact they don’t want a compromise.

Secondly, Congress doesn’t need to act for this policy to be halted. It is a policy decision the Trump administration chose to utilize. The President himself could stop this. Why doesn’t Cramer acknowledge that in his statement? Sure, Congress can pass a law that prohibits this act or at the very minimum creates a process to reunite these families. In fact, there are efforts to do so in case the President persists. Who has introduced such efforts? Senate Democrats.

Don’t believe it is the chosen policy of the administration? Take it from administration officials themselves. This list was compiled from NBC and goes back to 2017.

Credit NBC Capitol Hill Reporter Kasie Hunt

If you read between the lines, Cramer is accepting the fact these children are being used as a political bargaining chip to get a larger reform package. Cramer has made it clear the “comprehensive” package he demands is building the wall. Recall, his guest to the State of the Union this year was a finalist in building a prototype of a border wall from Dickinson.

Others are also attempting to defend and justify this inhumane policy decision. They wrongfully claim that if someone opposes this policy or other aspects of reform that they are for “open borders.” This argument is meant to simplify the complex debate. It is lazy and should be dismissed for lacking seriousness.

Immigration reform is long overdue. Efforts were made in 2013 when the Senate passed a bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform package. The package received 68 votes in the Senate. Both Senators Heitkamp and Hoeven voted for the package. The bill included $5 billion for border security, transformed the system to a merit-based system, and eliminated visa lottery. Sound familiar? The only thing that seems to be missing was the wall. That comprehensive immigration reform package died in the House in 2014. House Republicans refused to even take up the vote because of partisan politics. Congressman Kevin Cramer served in that Congress.

Here we are in 2018 and Republicans control Congress. We are better than accepting the policy of children being used as a political bargaining chip. This isn’t normal. Yet, Cramer appears to endorse it. He must know the President can immediately stop this policy while Congress continues to work on a comprehensive immigration reform. Yet, he chose to deflect and mislead the public. Meanwhile, it is important to remember the failure of comprehensive reform just four years ago.

UPDATED:

As I wrote the above post, Kevin Cramer issued a new statement on his campaign page that talks about compassion with law enforcement. You can see the latest statement below.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story indicated Jeff Sessions voted FOR the comprehensive package. That was incorrect. Sessions voted AGAINST the package.