Rep. Scholten wants us to believe that she supports progressive policies immigration, yet has voted several times with the Trump Administration on anti-immigration legislation

Last weekend Rep. Hillary Scholten wrote the following comment on her Facebook page:

The American people voted for a safe, just, and humane immigration system. What does President Trump deliver? Chaos. President Donald Trump, you have a better choice on immigration. Work with Republicans and Democrats in Congress to pass the #DignityAct and stop this dysfunction.

I’m not sure which election Rep. Scholten is referring to where “people voted for a safe, just, and humane immigration system.” If she is referring to the 2024 Election regardless of whether voters chose Donald Trump or Kamala Harris, neither Presidential candidate in 2024 stood for a safe, just and humane immigration system. Of course we all know what the current administration’s position on immigration, but as Vice President Kamala Harris was both silent and complicit in the number of ICE arrests and deportations that occurred during the Biden years.

As a presidential candidate Harris emphasized border security and a commitment to increasing funds for that purpose. The Harris campaign also maintained that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would be well funded, which means that ICE would be well funded.

The only President I can think of who had a more progressive platform on immigration matters was Barack Obama. However, even the two-term Obama Administration failed to get comprehensive immigration reform adopted, even when the Democrats controlled Congress.

Getting back to Rep. Scholten’s comment, Iit is true that President Trump has massively increased funding for the DHS/ICE and made a commitment in inaugural speech to deport millions of immigrants. So, when Rep. Scholten asks him to work with Congress to adopt immigration policy, she is engaging in political theater, since the Trump Administration is not going to budge on immigration matters.

The last part of Rep. Scholten has to do with legislation she proposed while Biden was President, known as the Dignity Act. In 2023, when Scholten first introduced this legislation she said, “Crossing have increased, but so has enforcement. Border agents do have adequate technology resources, which means more enforcement.” Rep. Scholten discussed the need to enforce the existing US immigration laws, but failed to bring up the issue of why so many people are fleeing Mexico and Central American, to come to the US.

Scholten also talked about having bipartisan support for the Dignity Act, specifically with Rep; Salas from Florida. However, the Dignity Act is not Comprehensive Immigration Reform, nor does it address more structural elements of root causes of immigration, such as the US role in supporting military and trade policies in Latin America that have destabilized most of the region, along with the fact that more and more people are being displaced and forced to flee their homelands because of Climate Change. (See Todd Miller’s excellent book, Storming the Wall: Climate Change, Migration and Homeland Security.)

If you go back and look at Rep. Scholten’s immigration policy campaign ads from 2024, you will see that she is using a very nationalistic framework and calling for an increase in US border guards and funding.

Lastly, it is hard to take Rep. Schoten seriously on immigration policy matters, especially since she has sided with the Trump Administration on at least three major immigration pieces of legislation since the beginning of 2025. First, there was her vote in favor of the Laken Riley Act, followed by her votes for the Preventing Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act, H.R. 30 and H.R.35 – Agent Raul Gonzalez Officer Safety Act. Scholten was one of 50 Democrats who voted for this piece of legislation.

Rep. Scholten can’t claim to support immigrants and want to adopt more progressive immigration policies, when she has consistently supported and voted for legislation that both criminalizes immigrants and increases funding for militarizing the US/Mexican border.