At 4:30 PM today, the GOP leadership in the House, led by Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, Congressman Paul Ryan, Congressman Jeff Denham, and others will present their plan for amnesty for illegal immigrants. They will talk a long time about how their plan is not amnesty and will try to convince conservatives that we should act on immigration reform this year and now. But why?
Our friends at Heritage Action wrote:
According to press reports, we can expect “separate bills that would fast-track legalization for agricultural laborers…and provide an opportunity for young immigrants who came to the country illegally as children to become American citizens.” Any immigration measure would provide a vehicle for the House to commence conference negotiations with the Senate—a legislative move that the political class would undoubtedly exploit to pressure the House into accepting some form of amnesty in advance of the November elections. Moreover, many of these piecemeal proposals are flawed in their own right:
DREAM (or KIDS) Act: While the stand-alone House version has not been unveiled, the Gang of 8’s DREAM plank would legalize between 2-3 million individuals currently in the country illegally. Once legalized, they could then sponsor family members–those abroad and those who are currently in the country illegally–resulting in a “chain migration” that could triple the number of amnesty recipients. As Heritage Foundation’s Robert Rector explains:
Once unlawful immigrant households were legalized, there would be an increased tendency for brothers, sisters, and cousins to migrate from abroad both lawfully and unlawfully to join their relatives. Thus, other things being equal, amnesty would likely increase future unlawful immigration, in turn increasing future fiscal costs.
Though many on both sides of the aisle would have you believe this is a law for children, under the DREAM Act provision to the Senate bill, individuals of any age may apply for amnesty, so long as they have a high school diploma and they claim they were under the age of 16 when they entered unlawfully. Moreover, the Administration has wide discretion to waive various requirements of such a bill by invoking special exemptions for “hardship” or “public interest.” Given President Obama’s broad use of executive power, the only certainty for unlawful citizens is amnesty.
In fiscal terms, each new citizen would be eligible for a host of mean-tested welfare programs, the total cost of which may well amount to billions each year. Additionally, this bill would incentivize parents abroad to attempt perilous border crossings in the hope that their children might be granted amnesty as well. While the House version may vary, it is apt to bear the same framework, and any significant conservative footholds are likely to be capitulated once the bills go to conference, or ignored by the President.
Agriculture Jobs Amnesty: The “Agricultural Guest Worker Act” (H.R. 1773) grants amnesty to all current illegal agricultural workers and welcomes 500,000 new workers each year (permitting the Secretary of Agriculture full discretion to raise the cap to accommodate a number of elusive considerations). Not unlike the DREAM Act, this bill creates a new center of gravity from which chain legalization and government subsidies will follow.
Not only would amnesty reward those who came here illegally (which is unfair to the current 4.4 million people patiently wading through the arduous process of visa authorization), but it would also set a precedent that will encourage others to enter or stay in the U.S. illegally in hopes of the same reward of citizenship.
Call to Action: Sentinels are encouraged to petition their Members of Congress to attend their annual retreat on January 29th and vocally oppose any plan to unveil and pass piecemeal immigration bills during this Congress.
Thankfully several House members are hearing our message and plan to fight against amnesty proponents (like Ryan and Denham) at the meeting today.
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ 4):
Republicans Talking Immigration Today
I am in Maryland today at our conference discussing policy and strategy. In my District I have had very few people say amnesty for law breakers is needed. I won’t support amnesty for people who violate our laws while millions wait in line legally and lawfully, respecting our process.
Then there is this. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson (he is in charge of protecting our borders) said that law breakers have “earned” the right to citizenship. Wow.
With fools and miscreants at the top of DHS it will take all of us to protect the Rule of Law. What about the 4.3 million people waiting in line to legally come to the U.S.? We punish honest people and reward criminals? Is that what Obama is all about?
As The Heritage Foundation noted: “Why does Johnson think that those who broke U.S. law have earned the right to be citizens, but those waiting in line and those who are respecting U.S. law have earned nothing? President Obama, Johnson, and Congress should not further unfair and harmful amnesty policies.”
Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC 3):
At the GOP Conference meeting today. Looking forward to a sparring dialogue with House Leadership about Immigration Reform. My points are and will be:
1. Why now? Why not wait until after GOP gets majority in the Senate to bring up real reforms that reflect Republican ideals – NO AMNESTY2. Secure the Border and have the verification of border security come from border states like AZ, NM, TX, CA…..
3. Discuss enforcing the law. We have Immigration Enforcement laws, a Secure Fence Act, and other laws which are being ignored. Lets enforce our laws and get reacquainted with the idea that we are a sovereign nation.
4. Deal with roughly 1/2 of all illegals in this country that just didn’t violate our sovereignty, but violated America’s TRUST! The are “Visa Overstays” who came to this country with a permission slip – a VISA (be it a student visa, work visa, tourist visa, etc) and decided to stay when the visa expired. With these people, we aren’t just chasing a footprint in the desert! WE KNOW WHO THESE PEOPLE ARE! We have their names (a correct spelling, btw), their photographs, probably a fingerprint for ID and an address to start with (where they were attending school, working, staying, etc). They had an interview at a US Consulate or Embassy B4 getting a visa. Heck, let’s sick the nation’s librarians on them! If they can find you when you have an overdue book, surely they can find someone on whom we have so much info! This is low-hanging fruit for immigration enforcement! And, you have dealt with 1/2 of the illegal population here….
Then, we can have a further conversation about the other illegals whom are here, maybe contributing to society and the workforce, as well as a discussion about their families or the children brought here by their parents. What does the future look like for them? What do the American people want us to do about these illegal immigrants? (and I don’t want to hear any “Political Correctness” bull about them being “undocumented aliens” or some other term. They are here in violation of the laws of the land, they have illegally entered our homeland and the correct status is illegal alien.)
There are a lot of good ideas out there that don’t lead to amnesty or an automatic move to citizenship. I will not support amnesty. Should be interesting today!
#NoAmnesty: “We cannot make ourselves the issue this year. We cannot be the issue this year and we should not be the issue this year.”
“You cannot put any immigration [bill] on the president’s desk that is good for this country and get him to sign it. And so any debate we have here in the House is only going to divide Republicans and unify Democrats,” Rep. Steve King (R-IA) told TPM. “The best course of action is to say, ‘We’re not taking up immigration, we can’t trust the president’ — and both of those things will be easily defensible.”
These 3 representatives are just a few conservatives who are standing up against the establishment in Washington D.C. Pray for them and encourage them. Call all representatives and contact them to tell them NO AMNESTY AND NO IMMIGRATION VOTES THIS YEAR! Any vote for immigration reform this year will turn into amnesty…just look at what happened to the Farm Bill.
LLPH Second Revolution 