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Liberal Activists to Democrats: Protect Young Immigrants or Shut Down Government - The New York Times

posted onDecember 9, 2017
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Article snippet: WASHINGTON — Liberal activists, eager for Democrats to assert what power they have left in Congress, are pressing Democratic leaders to shut down the government this Christmas if Republicans do not agree to shield young undocumented immigrants from deportation. But moderate Democrats fear the political blowback of a holiday crisis, and equivocal statements by top Democratic leaders are giving the left reason to believe that the party will lend enough votes to keep the government open past Dec. 22, when the current spending bill is set to expire. That has turned part of the liberal “resistance” — honed in the Trump era to target Republicans — against Democratic leaders. “They have to be willing to go all the way to government shutdown,” said Tereza Lee, who helped stage a sit-in on Tuesday at Senator Chuck Schumer’s office in New York City demanding that he win protection for young undocumented immigrants threatened with deportation. “This is the only way. We can’t be weak.” Frustrated immigration activists gathered at least three times this week at Mr. Schumer’s New York City office to demand that the Democratic senator publicly say that he would be willing to shut down the government if Republicans do not include an immigration measure in the end-of-the-year spending bill. For immigration activists, that model is Republican. In the Obama years, Republican lawmakers prompted three separate fiscal crises: demands for deep spending cuts in 2011 nearly led to a debt... Link to the full article to read more

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