Thread: Immigration's new ally: Tea partiers

By ANNA PALMER and TARINI PARTI | 5/7/13 12:06 PM EDT Updated: 5/7/13 4:53 PM EDT
POLITICO

Immigration reform supporters are about to get some new conservative bonafides — prominent tea party backers.

Several conservative activists and tea party group leaders are meeting with Sen. Marco Rubio Tuesday afternoon to discuss immigration reform, including a list of what they support – and don’t.

In a draft of their seven principles, obtained by POLITICO, the groups make no calls for a ban on “amnesty” – a longtime rallying cry of conservatives grassroots groups.

Instead, there’s a tacit acknowledgement that the law will create a new path to citizenship for undocumented workers.

That path, the draft says, shouldn’t be a means to grow social programs, like Obamacare. The one-page draft also calls for “assimilation” programs and tougher border enforcement.

Tea Party Express, TheTeaParty.Net and Revive America leaders as well as Americans For Tax Reform’s Grover Norquist are expected to be among the more than two dozen grassroots conservative leaders huddling with the Florida Republican. Most of the groups in the meeting support immigration reform.

Some tea party groups moved quickly to distance themselves from supporting the Senate Gang of Eight’s immigration package just hours after the meeting with Rubio was reported.

“We were invited by Sen. Rubio’s office to discuss the current legislation on immigration, and importantly, to offer our views on how we think it can be fixed,” said Niger Innis, national outreach director of TheTeaParty.net. Innis said that they have not agreed to support the Gang of Eight’s legislation.

“We have heard from the hundreds of thousands of activists and supporters affiliated with TheTeaParty.net. Overwhelmingly and resoundingly, they oppose this bill. We are there to tell Sen. Rubio what the conservative base is saying,” said Innis, noting that “no to amnesty” and “yes to securing the border” will be a major component.

Rubio and some conservatives, like Norquist, have tried to broaden the support for immigration reform. Many conservatives oppose an overhaul, like the Heritage Foundation, which released a report Monday arguing the cost of immigration reform will be too great.

“It’s clear that any number of people in Washington who would benefit from amnesty, as well as some members of Congress, do not want to consider the costs,” former Sen. Jim DeMint, Heritage’s new president and tea party favorite, said at a press conference Monday. “No sensible thinking person could read this study and conclude that over 50 years they could have a positive economic impact.”

Other key conservative groups like Freedom Works and Club for Growth — two that supporters have tried to get to step up support for immigration reform — have maintained their silence on the issue.

Rubio told POLITICO Monday that he is continuing his outreach to groups.

“We’ve talked to everybody. Right now it’s an informational stage. People want to learn more about it, ways we can make it better. [We’re] taking a lot of input as well,” Rubio said. “I think people are willing to do something on immigration as long as we can ensure this problem never happens again.”

Rubio’s spokesman Alex Conant said, “the large number of conservatives supporting immigration reform is one of the reasons we are optimistic that reform will pass this year.”

He added: “There is a very strong coalition on the right that wants to fix our broken immigration system and end defacto amnesty.”

Sen. Jeff Flake said he is also doing outreach with conservative and Tea party groups.

“It seems to be a much better environment than we had in 2006 and 2007,” Flake said. The Arizona Republican said that while he wasn’t expecting any imminent endorsements that “we’re always hopeful… we’ll take support wherever we can get it.”

http://oneoldvet.com/

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/0...7.html?hp=t1_3

Outreach to conservatives on amnesty for illegal aliens? That is one of the most ridiculous things Ive ever seen in print!

Illegal immigration and this amnesty disaster bill S 744 Conserve nothing while destroying Conservative America forevermore politically.

W

It's outrageous, and shows the Tea Party movement wasn't what it was cracked up to be. What a shame.

Remember, this is Politico reporting this, not the most unbiased of "news" organizations. See this story, for example, that shows Tea Party opposition to amnesty:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...tea-party.html

by Matthew Boyle 7 May 2013
breitbart.com



Tea Party groups are not supporting Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and the rest of the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” and their immigration bill despite erroneous reporting by Politico, Breitbart News has learned.

Politico’s lead story Tuesday afternoon claims that Tea Partiers are the “new ally” of the Gang of Eight pushing immigration reform. “Immigration reform supporters are about to get some new conservative bonafides — prominent tea party backers,” Politico’s Anna Palmer and Tarini Parti wrote. “Several conservative activists and tea party group leaders are meeting with Sen. Marco Rubio Tuesday afternoon to discuss immigration reform, including a list of what they support – and don’t.”

The Politico reporters then cited at least two specific Tea Party groups as supportive of immigration reform and the bill.

“Tea Party Express, TheTeaParty.Net and Revive America leaders as well as Americans For Tax Reform’s Grover Norquist are expected to be among the more than two dozen grassroots conservative leaders huddling with the Florida Republican,” they wrote. “The groups in the meeting support immigration reform."

But those two Tea Party groups each told Breitbart News they are either opposed to the bill or not weighing in on the fight at all.

TheTeaParty.Net chief strategist Niger Innis said that Rubio invited the group to discuss the legislation, and the group planned to go and report the concerns the conservative base has with it--not to express any kind of support for it. Innis said his group will not support a piece of immigration legislation that grants amnesty and does not secure the border immediately.

“We were invited by Sen. Rubio's office to discuss the current legislation on immigration, and importantly, to offer our views on how we think it can be fixed,” Innis said in a statement provided exclusively to Breitbart News. “We are going to hear him out, rather than rely on the liberal media interpretation of his legislation. Reports that we have agreed to support the Gang of Eight bill are utter make-believe.”

Innis added that his group has heard from Americans all around the country who oppose this legislation.

“We have heard from the hundreds of thousands of activists and supporters affiliated with TheTeaParty.net,” Innis said. “Overwhelmingly and resoundingly, they oppose this bill. We are there to tell Sen. Rubio what the conservative base is saying. And that is no to amnesty and yes to securing the border now. Unless this bill can be proven not to be another ill-fated attempt at amnesty and not a way of adding hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants to the already considerable burdens of the welfare state, we cannot and will not support the Gang of Eight bill. We believe that Sen. Rubio is an honorable man and is trying to do the right thing, but this bill is currently more Schumer than Rubio."

Tea Party Express’s Mark Standriff said in an email that his group has not and will not take a side on immigration reform. “Tea Party Express focuses solely on fiscal issues - spending and taxes. Immigration, like other social issues, fall outside our focus and thus we do not have a position on them,” Standriff said. “For that reason, we will not be playing any role in the Gang of Eight immigration bill or any future legislation on this topic.”

In the Politico story, both Rubio himself and his spokesman Alex Conant seemed to suggest that their ongoing outreach to conservative groups was becoming effective. “We’ve talked to everybody. Right now it’s an informational stage. People want to learn more about it, ways we can make it better. [We’re] taking a lot of input as well,” Rubio said. “I think people are willing to do something on immigration as long as we can ensure this problem never happens again.”

Conant said, “the large number of conservatives supporting immigration reform is one of the reasons we are optimistic that reform will pass this year,” and “there is a very strong coalition on the right that wants to fix our broken immigration system and end defacto amnesty.”

Rubio's fellow Gang of Eight member Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) also implied Tea Partiers and conservatives are supporting the bill, more so than previous immigration reform legislation attempts, telling Politico, “it seems to be a much better environment than we had in 2006 and 2007,” and, “we’re always hopeful… we’ll take support wherever we can get it.”

Groups like FreedomWorks and the Club For Growth have remained quiet on this legislation thus far, but Tea Party Patriots, another major force in the grassroots, has adamantly opposed it and offered activists nationwide guidelines for getting involved to fight it.

http://oneoldvet.com/

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Governm...migration-bill

In my opinion, the Tea Party...or factions of the Tea Party has/have been co-opted to pull in conservatives that are standing in the way of amnesty. It is a trick.