There he goes again. Former Republican Congressman Paul Ryan is still going on with his bullshit about regretting not getting more done on immigration, which, for the record, he had full control of as speaker of the House of Representatives.
"One thing I regret the most is we did not get a debt reduction plan in place," Ryan told an electric utility industry conference this week. “If you don't get these entitlements under control, we will have a debt crisis in this country. Immigration has been plagued by politics. If we solve the immigration problem, which is totally solvable, and our debt problem, which is totally solvable, we are going to be great."
Ryan made similar laments in November, and then again in December, both times, just like this week, failing to note that he was the politics plaguing the immigration “problem” that most Americans want to see fixed. The overwhelming majority of American voters want undocumented youth on a path to citizenship, for example, but it was Ryan who created a “problem” by not just refusing to bring a bill to the floor, but also by actively sabotaging it.
Ryan’s predecessor, John Boehner, has also publicly lamented not getting immigration done, and claimed that “there is no Republican Party, there is a President Donald Trump Party,” but Boehner also blocked the Senate’s 2013 comprehensive immigration reform bill, even though it had a chance to pass, instead giving floor votes to Iowa’s leading white supremacist, Congressman Steve King.
Ryan and Boehner may continue to portray themselves as moderates, but their actions—and lack thereof—say otherwise. They both stood in the way, and because of that, millions of immigrant families are now living in fear. They may be out of politics but this is on them, and we won’t forget it.