The fight over President Barack Obama's immigration executive action has become so heated that the controversy involving measles and children's vaccinations has now entered the debate.
Republicans, saying Obama's executive action constitutes executive overreach, have tried to block his immigration policy changes by attaching amendments to the Department of Homeland Security's spending bill. Democrats have been blocking bill and insisting the bill be passed without the amendments. The legislative wrangling has brought the usual arguments, such as the effect immigrants have on the U.S. economy and American jobs.
But the debate spiraled into other areas earlier this week when Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., tried to tie the measles outbreak and deaths of American children to people illegally in the U.S.
In response, the AFL-CIO tagged him winner of its "Deporter of the Week" prize as part of a social media campaign the union launched to "expose the efforts of congressional Republicans to attack immigrant working families."
Potential 2016 GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson, a vaccination supporter who has called for sealing the border, also said people not entering the country legally could be partly to blame for the measles outbreak, The Hill reported.
Latino political cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz mixed the two issues _ immigration and vaccinations _ in another way, noting the spread of smallpox and the role it played in the downfall of the Aztec capital. "Raza, we don't need vaccines. It went great in 1521," his posting says.
IN-DEPTH:
- Politically Diverse Mix of States Offer Vaccinations Exemptions
- Five Things You Need To Know About Measles
- Obama Assures Dreamers Deportation Relief Will Stick
_ Suzanne Gamboa