The bill is based on an avalanche of misinformation, starting with Sen. Ted Cruz’s baseless assertion that “what is causing this humanitarian crisis is that these children believe that they will be granted, in the future, amnesty.” No, the cause is violence in the kids’ home countries. They’re fleeing not only to the U.S but also to Mexico, Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Belize. It has nothing to do with U.S. law, which doesn’t even provide a pathway to citizenship, let alone amnesty. Of 404 recently arrived children surveyed by the United Nations refugee agency, only nine mentioned the United States’ immigration policy.

But what’s most galling about Cruz’s statement is the lie that the GOP is somehow burdened with humanitarian concerns as Republicans scheme to ship the kids back to the nightmarish circumstances they’ve escaped. This charade includes the Orwellian heading of “protecting children” for a section in the House bill that puts the children into an expedited removal process.

In a particularly nasty turn, the GOP passed an accompanying bill that defunded President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which Republicans have erroneously linked to the border crisis. To invoke DACA, a child must have lived continuously in the U.S. since 2007, something newly arriving children cannot claim.