Rep. Mike Capuano, D-Mass., suggested Thursday that the Republican immigration policy is so morally wrong that it could prevent GOP lawmakers from getting into heaven.
“The previous speaker said that history is going to judge us. You’re right, they will,” Capuano said on the House floor.
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“On this issue, God is going to judge you as well,” he said. “When you go to those gates, and there’s a little thing in there that says you went out of your way to use children for your political purposes, you really think that’s a good mark to have in your book? I don’t think so.”
Capuano and other Democrats have argued all week that President Trump went too far by imposing a zero tolerance policy at the border, which led to increased incidents of family separation.
[White House: Democrats are turning family separation into an ’emotional issue’ for midterm advantage]
The Trump administration has said it needs to be able to prosecute illegal immigrant adults, and that it can’t hold families together because of a court ruling that requires children to be released after 20 days.
Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order ending family separation. In the meantime, Republicans in the House were trying to pass legislation to fund a border wall, and help hundreds of thousands of Dreamers stay legally in the U.S.
But Democrats have said they will oppose it, and Capuano explained why.
“This bill also authorizes $24 billion to build a stupid wall,” he said.
“This bill also says it’s going to be harder for families reunification by repealing two laws that already allow it,” he said. “This bill also says that 3 million people who have done the right thing and are in line to become citizens are now going to be shunted aside.”
