FIL VELA'S "BERRINCHE" LEAVES US WITHOUT A VOICE

By Juan Montoya
In a fit of pique, freshman congressman Filemon Vela Jr. says he will vote against the Senate version of the immigration reform bill because of the $40 billion in money for 700 more miles of new fencing and 20,000 more boots on the ground included in it as a condition of support by the Republican Party.
Vela said he had emailed his resignation to the Hispanic Congressional Caucus whose members said they supported the compromise plan passed out by the Senate. Both Texas senators – both Republicans – also voted against the measure which passed it 67-27 to advance an amendment to the House of Representatives.
The measure voted on Monday includes changes to the original border security provisions in the bill that would double the size (by hiring 20,000 more officers) of the U.S. Border Patrol at a cost of around $46 billion and complete 700 miles of fencing. A

t the same time it sets out a pathway to citizenship for some 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally, who would be permitted to get permanent resident green cards only once all the border changes had been put in place, about a decade after enactment of the legislation.
The fact that bit garnered 67 votes – seven more than the 60 needed to clear the Senate – indicated to its supporters that the security amendment had succeeded in attracting Republican support. Fifteen Republicans voted for the amendment.
Now Fil Jr. says he wants the fence torn down and says he is against hiring more Border Patrol officers because "we can't even provide the ones we have with gasoline for their operations."
In other words, he is voting with the Republicans against the bill.
Well, we always knew that Fil Jr. – a heavy contributor to Republican candidates and treasurer  in some of their campaigns – was a closet GOP member. His wife Rose, who won her seat as a justice on the 13th Circuit Court of Appeals as a Republican, withdrew from the Chief Justice Race against incumbent Roy Valdez last December.
Now, by symbolically resigning his membership in the 27-member group, Vela in effect is throwing his lot with the GOP. He can always do as the Republican members of the caucus who left in the late 1990s over policy differences relating to Cuba and, in 2003, formed their own group, the Congressional Hispanic Conference. Currently, only Senator Bob Menendez, a Cuban-American Democrat, is the only member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus from the Senate.
The bill is going to have a tough time passing the U.S. House, and another chance to reform what everyone on either side of the aisle agrees is a broken down immigration system might well be decades away. As is the case with legislation, no one expects to be completely satisfied with the compromise Senate bill. But everyone also agrees that to maintain the status quo cannot be an option.
Republicans will get their fence and militarize the border whether Texas Democrats in the House want it or not. It's something that we have to live with given their control of the House. To throw out the immigration reform baby with the soap water is not a mature answer to this knotty riddle.
Why did you choose to run to be our congressional representative as a Democrat if at the first sign of trouble you turn tail and run to your Republican friends, Fil?