Thread: Rubio (2009): Reagan erred in supporting 1986 amnesty for illegal immigrants

Rubio: Reagan erred in supporting 1986 amnesty for illegal immigrants

by George Bennett | November 17th, 2009

STUART — Here’s something you seldom hear in a Republican primary: a candidate taking issue with Ronald Reagan.

It happened this afternoon when former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, who’s running in the GOP Senate primary against Gov. Charlie Crist, answered a question on immigration at a Martin County Republican Womens Federated meeting that drew more than 100 attendees.

Rubio delivered a six-minute discourse on immigration policy in which he brought up The Gipper’s support for the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which granted amnesty to most undocumented workers who could prove they had been in the country continuously for the previous five years.


“In 1986 Ronald Reagan granted amnesty to 3 million people,” Rubio said. “You know what happened, in addition to becoming 11 million a decade later? There were people trying to enter the country legally, who had done the paperwork, who were here legally, who were going through the process, who claimed, all of a sudden, ‘No, no no no , I’m illegal.’ Because it was easier to do the amnesty program than it was to do the legal process.”

“If you grant amnesty, the message that you’re sending is that if you come in this country and stay here long enough, we will let you stay. And no one will ever come through the legal process if you do that.”

Rubio said the U.S. must first get control of its borders and its visa system, which often allows people to enter legally but remain after their visas expire.

“Only after you deal with illegal immigration in a serious way — seal the border and the visa problem — can you then create a legal immigration system that works. That still leaves you with 11 million people that are here illegally,” Rubio said.

While criticizing amnesty for those illegals, he also rejected the idea of a massive “police-state” roundup. He suggested requiring tamper-proof residency and guest-worker cards and fining employers who don’t verify that their workers are legal. That, Rubio said, would bring the 11 million figure down “dramatically by attrition.”

Asked later about about Reagan’s support for amnesty, Rubio said, “I think he did it for the right reasons, but I think it ended up working the wrong way.”

Rubio’s no-amnesty stance on illegal immigrants has drawn some criticism from immigration hard-liners who say Rubio didn’t advance the issue when he was House speaker and the collapse of federal immigration reform efforts led state legislators around the U.S. to propose a variety of state-level immigration measures.

http://www.postonpolitics.com/2009/1...al-immigrants/

Interesting good find JD2. Guess he went to DC, after getting elected, and began drinking their water or ????

Similar article found in our archives from Nov 2009:
http://www.alipac.us/f12/rubio-says-...ration-169561/

RELATED

http://www.alipac.us/f12/rejected-ap...d-stay-277928/

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http://www.alipac.us/f12/marco-rubio...r-plan-277970/

Reagan didn't support amnesty. Reagan didn't initiate amnesty. The goof-ball Republican Alan Simpson from Wyoming introduced the bill in the US Senate. Only after the bill was passed by both chambers of Congress did Reagan sign the bill into law rather than veto it, and I've read somewhere that doing so was in Reagan's opinion the worst most regrettable decision of his Presidency.

Oh and forget Rubio. He's not the solution to our problems. He wants more visas and more legal immigration. Really, wake up, the issue is the numbers of people who can't sustain themselves, which is 71% of illegal aliens, 57% of all immigrants, and 38% of US citizens. This is outrageous and I don't know how any American let alone our stupid representatives and leaders can sleep at night with numbers like this that show our country is falling apart.

There is no "dream" here any more, it's a fight to survive with no time or money to "dream".

And Marco Rubio, being the grand spineless hypocrite he is, erred in supporting and passing amnesty in 2013!

W

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

And Marco Rubio, being the grand spineless hypocrite he is, erred in supporting and passing amnesty in 2013!

W

Correct!!

11/2/2014

Mitt Romney Promises to Deliver Amnesty Bill To Obama's Desk if GOP Takes Senate


10/30/2014

Jeb Bush Promises GOP Immigration Reform To Spanish-Speaking Media


REPUBLICANS TO PUSH AMNESTY (Just like Obama)

3/25/2010

What would the U.S. be like today if Reagan had been smart enough, brave enough, to VETO the Amnesty Bill?