Democrats block GOP rep’s bill requiring negative COVID tests for illegal immigrants
House Democrats on Tuesday blocked proposed legislation from freshman Rep. Marianette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, that would have required illegal immigrants released into the U.S. to receive a negative COVID-19 test.
The REACT Act would require migrants released into the United States by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) would first have to test negative for coronavirus.
Miller-Meeks’s measure was brought up on the floor a day after the Iowa congresswoman joined some of her colleagues for a trip to see the immigration crisis in El Paso, Texas. The GOP calls to consider the measure were blocked by Democrats.
Miller-Meeks called for the bill to be brought to the House floor for a vote, saying that the U.S. is facing a “crisis” at the southern border that “must be addressed.”
“We are still in a global pandemic, and we are unnecessarily putting lives at risk,” wrote the freshman congresswoman.
The Democrats’ refusal to consider Miller-Meeks’s bill coincides with a challenge to the Iowa congresswoman’s election win by her opponent, Rita Hart, that was voted to move forward in the House Administration Committee on Monday.
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