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Rep. Amodei Wants Immigration Reform Yesterday

Hundreds of immigration advocates and supporters attend a rally and march to Trump Tower in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA, on Wednesday in New York City.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Hundreds of immigration advocates and supporters attend a rally and march to Trump Tower in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA, on Wednesday in New York City.

One day Attorney General Jeff Sessions tells the world that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program will end.  

Another day and President Donald Trump tweets that DACA recipients shouldn't worry about their status for six months. 

Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV) said that type of conflicting message is exactly what causes political barriers in Washington.  

"If you want to talk about some potential conflicting messages there on the Republican side, there's the two most recent ones," Amodei said. 

Amodei, now in his sixth year as a representative, has longed called on Congress to act on immigration reform. But political agendas, he said, have gotten in the way. 

"It requires leadership on both sides to not act like they have historically on this issue," Amodei said. "Nothing could be more disrespectful to these people than making it everybody's favorite hot potato.

"[Trump] wants to phase [DACA] out, wants Congress to do their job and set forth something that gives those 800,000 people, 13,000 in Nevada some predictability and stability in their status, which I'm all for," Amodei said. 

Two partisan bills currently sit in the House of Representatives, Amodei said, and they aren't that different from one another. Both talk about earning status by military service, school enrollment or employment. 

"While this is going on you are sheltered from any threat from deportation which, by the way, is probably appropriate since since these folks came here as minors," Amodei said. 

Whether either bill will be able to get passed without partisan squabbling, however, remains to be seen. 

"Giving Congress six months to do their job that they should have done a long time ago is a good thing," Amodei said. 

 

Rep. Mark Amodei, R-NV 

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Prior to taking on the role of Broadcast Operations Manager in January 2021, Rachel was the senior producer of KNPR's State of Nevada program for 6 years. She helped compile newscasts and provided coverage for and about the people of Southern Nevada, as well as major events such as the October 1 shooting on the Las Vegas strip, protests of racial injustice, elections and more. Rachel graduated with a bachelor's degree of journalism and mass communications from New Mexico State University.