Rep. Gaetz Blasts Dems for Shooting Down Amendment to Prevent Amnesty for Illegal Immigrants With Gun Offenses

Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) took to Twitter to call out the Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee for shooting down his proposed bill amendment preventing illegal immigrants with gun offenses from being granted amnesty.

In a tweet published Thursday, Gaetz — a prominent House ally to President Donald Trump — torched the House Judiciary Democrats as choosing to "give green cards" to those unlawful migrants with firearm offenses by "vot[ing] down" his proposed amendment blocking them from being granted amnesty under the DREAM Act on Wednesday.

"In House Judiciary yesterday, Democrats voted down my amendment to prevent gun offenders from receiving amnesty status under the DREAM Act," Gaetz wrote. "Dems vote to give green cards to illegal immigrants who commit gun crimes, while they try to restrict American citizens' right to bear arms."

The Florida Republican included a video of him speaking during the committee hearing where he quipped that "it look[ed] like" the Democrats found a gun control policy that they "can't support."

"I guess we found the first gun control that the Democrats can't support. And so, if my Democratic colleagues are sincere about reducing gun violence, then, presumably, they wouldn't want people in the country who have come here illegally, who have committed a gun-based offense, who were convicted of that offense, and who then seeked the amnesty of the United States."

Gaetz's comments came as more Democratic presidential primary candidates have turned their sights towards stricter gun control policy proposals on the campaign trail.

As IJR Red previously reported, 2020 Democratic primary candidate and New Jersey Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.) unveiled a sweeping gun control plan that would require all new and current owners of firearms to obtain a federal license to own their guns while creating a national firearm registry.

Booker's plan drew the ire of the Republican National Committee, who slammed the plan as "another big government grab at our constitutional rights" in an official release.