Why is the GOP Pushing for Immigration Reform and Why Now?

By Sheri Edwards

“A poll just showed that just 3 percent of Americans consider immigration a top priority,” (Senator Jeff) Sessions said. “So now we’re going to take an issue that divides the Republicans, that is not good for working Americans, and we’re going to alter the definition of this election from an overreaching central government and Obamacare and taxes and regulations to a controversial issue like [immigration]? I think it would be, from a purely political point of view, wrong.”

Sessions said the Chamber of Commerce wing of the Republican party had lost all bearing on what the American people actually want. (From an interview in Breitbart News)

Top GOP officials, meanwhile, are becoming bolder in their embrace of immigration reform. House Budget Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) emerged Thursday to discuss how House GOP leadership plans to bring immigration legislation to the floor, while on House Majority Whip Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)–the third highest House GOP leadership official–endorsed “legal status” for illegal aliens on Wednesday. (See “House Conservatives Plot Takedown of GOP Leaders’ Amnesty Plans“)

Representative Jim Bridenstine of Oklahoma said securing the border is a far more urgent priority than discussing the citizenship of illegal aliens in the U.S. because of the savage violence at the border.

“We have on the border of the United States 100,000 dead bodies just south of our border,” Bridenstine said. “We focus on Syria because that’s where the president wants to focus, while we have a crisis on our own southern border. And it’s because we have an insecure border.”

According to the National Journal, (John) Boehner has little to lose in trying to convince his fellow Republicans to follow his new guiding principles. If conservatives object to any part that resembles amnesty for immigrants, Boehner and other Republican leaders can still say they tried to push though legislation so that the House and Senate could then go to conference to pass something.

“President Obama’s new hobbyhorse is income inequality.’ Ironically, one of the most effective ways to increase income inequality is increasing the number of interchangeable workers in a labor pool. That is exactly what encouraging illegal immigration and granting legal status to illegal immigrants does,” (U.S. Commission on Civil Rights member Peter) Kirsanow wrote.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) says he is optimistic that some sort of immigration reform can be considered and possibly approved by Congress this year. (See “Cornyn: Immigration Reform Not Out of the Question in 2014“)  

“We can win in 2014 without resolving it. We can’t win in 2016 without resolving it,” Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn of Texas told the Journal.  

Alternatively, Dwayne Stovall, candidate to replace John Cornyn in the U.S. Senate, says

“Illegal immigration is just that: illegal. Creating alternative pathways to citizenship, as in amnesty, is a slap in the face to every Texan who legally arrived here from another country, and would be nothing more than a reward for breaking the laws. Texans should demand that the Federal Government fulfill its legal obligation under Article IV, Section 4, to protect us from invasion and to guarantee us a Republican form of government. Let’s try enforcing existing law and see if we still have a problem with our immigration policies.

Until the border is secure and the current laws are enforced, there is no discussion to have about amending immigration policy.”

In my humble opinion, the GOP Leadership is doing what they always do.  The Democrats begin a conversation, and Boehner, McCarthy, Ryan, Cornyn, McConnell et al. can’t wait to jump on the bandwagon and put their spin on it.  They don’t seem to realize that the GOP can actually START a conversation.  I believe Rep. Sessions is correct.  Most Americans are concerned about unemployment stemming from Obamacare mandates, over-regulation, and over-taxation.  Americans are concerned about being spied on by our own out-of-control government, our unsustainable debt and their own ability to live out the American dream.  Most Americans don’t want to be enslaved by government handouts necessitated by being unemployed or under-employed; we want our chance at bettering our own lives.

Instead of our House and Senate concentrating on reducing taxes and regulations and repealing Obamacare so that America can get back to work, Congress is choosing to let President Obama and company lead them down the path to immigration reform, which only 3% of Americans consider a top priority.  And John Cornyn is only too happy to “go along”.  It’s time to elect representatives (House and Senate) who listen to their constituents.  Here in Texas, I’m voting for Dwayne Stovall for US Senate, who will Put Texas First!  Follow Stovall at http://www.TexansforStovall.com.