Thread: Latino Lawmaker Will Advise Trump on Immigration Issues

Latino lawmaker will advise Trump on immigration issues



Published January 20, 2017


WASHINGTON – Republican Rep. Raul Labrador, who heads Donald Trump's Hispanic Advisory Council, said that he will advise the new U.S. president about immigration, shrugging off the absence of Latinos in the new Cabinet.


"There are plenty of GOP Hispanics that are the best and the brightest - some of us are in Congress," the Idaho lawmaker told reporters Thursday night at the Latino Inaugural Gala.


Trump has "great relations with the Hispanic community and will continue working with them," Labrador said, insisting that the White House staff will include Latinos.


"It's not just about having Hispanics in the Cabinet - it's actually about making sure that every American has an opportunity to be better," the congressman said.



Labrador rejected the use of the word "threat" to describe Trump's campaign promises of deporting millions of undocumented immigrants.



"What we need is an immigration system that works, and this is one of the issues where I am most enthusiastic," he said.


"President Trump understand that we need to fix the immigration laws, and we need to make it in a permanent manner, not tiny adjustments to help a few people."


Trump, 70, will lead the first administration since Ronald Reagan's in 1981-1989 not to include a representative of the Hispanic community, the nation's largest minority.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/01/20...on-issues.html

Raul Labrador’s complicated history on immigration reform



06/13/14 05:20 PM—UPDATED 06/25/14



By Benjy Sarlin



The tea party candidate to replace Eric Cantor as majority leader has an even more complicated relationship with immigration than Cantor, who alienated reform advocates and his anti-“amnesty” primary opponent alike with his vague positions.



Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID), who worked as an immigration attorney before entering politics, began the current session of Congress as one of the single most important players on the pro-reform side.



After President Obama’s dominant performance with Latino voters in 2012, Labrador worked with a bipartisan group of eight House members on a comprehensive immigration bill. Their efforts were essentially the House version of the Senate’s bipartisan “Gang of Eight”, which produced a sweeping immigration bill that passed last year.




Labrador’s popularity with the tea party lent irreplaceable credibility to the House’s immigration reform efforts in early 2013. He criticized Mitt Romney’s “self-deportation” policy and urged the party to take an active role in crafting a centrist alternative.




“It’s one of the stumbling blocks that I see for some Republicans. They’re moderate on every other issue, and they think this is the one issue where they have to become conservatives,” he told the Washington Post in February of last year. “I feel the reverse.”




Labrador favored some path to limited legal status for undocumented immigrants – a position most of his colleagues were reluctant to adopt – and said he was uncomfortable barring people from attaining citizenship through existing channels once they settled down.




“We shouldn’t create a second class group that could never become citizens, but we should also not give them a special pathway that nobody can follow,” Labrador said in March 2013 in a panel discussion with several similarly conservative lawmakers.



At one point, Labrador’s suggestion of legal status with no explicit ban on applying for green cards and eventual naturalization looked like a promising compromise. Immigration reform groups and the White House publicly demanded a clear step-by-step procedure in which undocumented immigrants earned citizenship, but advocates and House Democrats hinted that something resembling Labrador’s approach could earn their support if it brought House Republicans along.




But Labrador didn’t stick around to fight for his suggested policy. Instead, he dropped out of the bipartisan group– which was already withering thanks to a lack of support from House leaders – in June, citing a dispute over whether newly legal immigrants could access health care benefits.



At the time Labrador pledged to work with the House Judiciary Committee on a Republican immigration plan. But as conservatives grew wary of reform, Labrador decided to drop the issue rather than risk dividing the base ahead of the midterm elections. By October 2013, he had taken to urging House Republicans not to pass any immigration legislation, period, because House leaders might use it as a vehicle to negotiate a bipartisan deal similar to the Senate bill.




“Anything that you pass to the Senate piecemeal they’re going to try to conference it with their Senate bill,” Labrador told the Huffington Post at the time. “It’s not worth doing it.”




Labrador’s chief opponent in the leadership race, California Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), is one of the few House Republicans who have embraced a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants. So after an election in which, accurately or not, anti-immigration groups claimed victory by deposing Cantor, the House GOP leadership’s position moving forward looks even more uncertain in the long term.


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/raul-labr...gration-reform

From his website:

While America’s immigration system is broken, comprehensive immigration reform will not and should not happen in 2014. That is because President Obama and Democratic leaders interfered with a good faith bipartisan effort to reach an agreement in the House on immigration reform. Democratic leadership did not want a conservative immigration bill to come out of the House because they wanted the Senate immigration bill to be the only vehicle for immigration reform. In addition, the President continues to assert, both through words and actions, that he does not need Congress to act. Because of this, the vast majority of House Republicans do not trust that the President will enforce the parts of any immigration reform that he does not like, as he has already done with his own signature health care legislation. The President can buy a lot of goodwill this year by working with Congress to enforce the laws already on the books and – if he does that – we can tackle immigration reform in early 2015 when we’ll be in a better position to negotiate and get real results for the American people.


Our top priority for immigration reform should be securing our nation’s borders and enforcing the immigration laws that are already on the books. To do that, we must give our federal immigration enforcement officials the resources they need to enforce the laws we already have. We must also allow local law enforcement to work together with our federal immigration officers in order to provide the interior enforcement needs of our nation.


Beyond additional enforcement, reform must include modernizing our guest worker programs. Guest workers are vital to keep industries in America, and particularly in Idaho, competitive internationally. By providing a legal avenue for foreign workers to enter the United States, a guest worker program is critical to secure the border and eliminate illegal immigration.


The Senate comprehensive bill repeats the mistakes of the 1986 amnesty. I will oppose any legislation – such as the Senate bill – that is based on the philosophy of “legalization first, border security later.”

https://labrador.house.gov/immigration/

Trump did great with Hispanic Voters, legal Hispanic Voters, all based on his hard-line stances on immigration. What members of Congress need to understand is that Hispanic Americans are as fed up to the gills as any American with illegal immigration. They want it over, they want them out, they want our border secured, and immigration law enforced.

Imagine being an HIspanic American and all these people who aren't supposed to be here, start showing up on your doorstep, wanting to live with you, wanting you to get them a job, wanting your money and food until they have their own, using your home as a drug house while they sell drugs, having gang members slugging Modela's flopped on your couch, their guns scratching your coffee table all up.

Hispanic Americans are the first line victims of illegal immigration. There is nothing in this game for them except danger and financial and personal loss.

Raul Labrador at present has an A+ grade on NumbersUSA.

He was however part of the past efforts for comprehensive immigration reform.

Related: Labrador supports Amnesty

http://www.alipac.us/f34/ra%FAl-r-la...aliens-311924/

Steve King Stokes Old Feud with Raul Labrador

Charlie Spiering June 13, 2014


Rep. Raúl Labrador (R-ID) has just announced his intention to run for House Majority Leader, but he already has made a few enemies in the house for his support for some kind of immigration reform.
Just hours before Labrador’s announcement, King took a shot on him on Twitter for supporting amnesty.


After Labrador announced, King posted another note on Twitter.


In early 2013, Labrador raised eyebrows among anti-amnesty Republicans after he made a series of immigration proposals.


But King has other reasons for opposing Labrador.


When the vocal anti-amnesty Iowan made his controversial comments about immigrants with “calves the size of cantaloupes” in July 2013, Labrador was quick to call the comment “reprehensible and irresponsible.”

http://www.breitbart.com/big-governm...ra-l-labrador/

Hmmmm. That was in 2014, not that long ago. How can he have an A+ with NumbersUSA??!!! Did he do a complete turnaround?? Interesting information, GeorgiaPeach. Thank you for the research.

Well, all members of Congress need to understand Hispanic Americans want an end to illegal immigration as much as any American. They need to remember that very simple fact. And when everyone sees the enormous benefits and improvements to our country when this population is removed from our jurisdiction, everyone will want an end to illegal immigration forever.

McCarthy, Labrador About Equal in Support For Amnesty


CAROLINE MAY. Jun 16, 2014


Majority Leader Eric Cantor was deposed in a shocking primary upset largely over his support for providing amnesty to illegal aliens brought to the U.S. as minors. However, in the campaign to replace him, anti-amnesty advocates say both candidates are largely coming from the same place Cantor was.
Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID) both support legalization for the undocumented immigrants already in the country and are largely in line with establishment thinking on the issue.




“They are both what I would call high immigration guys. They are inclined to see the benefits of immigration, not the costs. They’re inclined to be sympathetic to employers who want more workers and not as inclined to see the general wage stagnation across the U.S. economy and the enormous number of working-age people not working,” Center for Immigration Studies director of research Steven Camarota explained to Breitbart News Monday.



Labrador has a nuanced relationship with immigration reform. A tea party lawmaker and an immigration lawyer by trade, he was a part of the bipartisan Gang of Eight in the House working on a reform agreement before he backed out of the group last June over a dispute dealing with healthcare for the eleven million undocumented immigrants.



“Anything we do is going to be called amnesty by any number of people. The reality is that we have to do something about the people that are here; we’ve got to figure out how to do it fairly, so we can solve the immigration problem,” Labrador told Roll Call in February 2013. “You’re going to get a majority of Republicans to support something that does something fair.”



Labrador’s website explains that he believes in border security and enforcement before any legalization but adds that he thinks 2014 is not the time for immigration reform because of House Republicans’ lack of confidence Obama will enforce such legislation and pressure for the Senate-passed immigration bill.



A statement on his website, however, indicates he’s optimistic about how quickly Obama can repair trust, saying “early 2015” will mark an optimal time to address the issue.



“The President can buy a lot of goodwill this year by working with Congress to enforce the laws already on the books and – if he does that – we can tackle immigration reform in early 2015 when we’ll be in a better position to negotiate and get real results for the American people,” Labrador’s website, which also boasts support for guest workers, reads.



In January, House Whip Kevin McCarthy was the first member of House GOP leadership to support legal status for undocumented immigrants. McCarthy does not support granting full citizenship to aliens.



“People understand that the immigration system today doesn’t work, that you have 42 percent of the people who are here illegally came here legally on a visa,” McCarthy said. “You have to reform the visa program. The chain migration system doesn’t work. You need a guest workers program.”




McCarthy also co-sponsored the ENLIST Act, with fellow Californian Rep. Jeff Denham, which would have provided a pathway to citizenship for certain undocumented youth who serve in the military.




“There is a kind of an echo chamber there. There is kind of a leadership echo chamber and alternative perspectives that even view immigration more skeptically are not views that they hear,” Camarota said, arguing that McCarthy is motivated more by business interests and Labrador’s motivations are likely derived from his career as an immigration lawyer.




“[Labrador] is an immigration lawyer; I think he’s inclined to see the benefits of immigration and not the costs,” Camarota said.



Overall, according to Camarota, the pair are representative of the “echo chamber in D.C.” that is less concerned about the possible harm of high immigration levels than the benefits. “I do not think that they are different in that both of them are part of that elite echo chamber on immigration.”



Immigration hawk Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King – who has voiced displeasure at the haste of the leadership elections – said Labrador is no better on immigration than McCarthy as he supports “amnesty.”



“#Labrador is pro amnesty. If not this year, he has strongly advocated for amnesty next year. No fair trying to redefine amnesty,” King tweeted on Friday prior to Labrador’s announcement.



Shortly after Labrador announced his late candidacy, King followed up his initial tweet with, “Wanted: Applicants for Majority Leader, US House who have record opposing amnesty. Come see me. 2nd Request. No qualified applicants, yet.”




Numbers USA, an immigration reduction group, has given Labrador a higher rating this Congress than McCarthy, “C+” compared to an “F-” respectively. Both have lower ratings than Texas Republican Reps. Pete Sessions’s “B” who backed out of the leadership race last week.



McCarthy’s low score this year from NumbersUSA, however, appears to be largely due to his co-sponsorship of the ENLIST Act. Overall, McCarthy’s lifetime rating is actually much higher than Labrador’s: an “A” to Labrador’s “B.“



Labrador, however, is considered to be the more conservative option overall and has been endorsed by Freedom Works, and Ron Paul’s Campaign for Liberty encouraged him to get into the leadership race.




When Roll Call gauged the support for the House Republican immigration principles – which argued enforcement first but a path to citizenship for certain undocumented children and legalization for certain undocumented immigrants – McCarthy said he supported it, Labrador said it was not the right time.



Thursday, House Speaker John Boehner said the House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s defeat changed nothing about the status of immigration reform in the House, despite the perception that the Virginian’s support for immigration reform played a role in his defeat.



“The issue with immigration reform has not changed,” Boehner said. “The president continues to ignore laws that he signed into law, violating his oath of office. He did it again with the recent release of these Taliban five. And I remind the president, again yesterday, that every time he does this, it makes it harder to gain the trust of our members to do the big things that need to be done.”


http://www.breitbart.com/big-governm...rting-amnesty/

Judy, Labrador had a " C" grade according to that article from 2014. I don't understand the "A+" unless it is because there has been no real immigration reform measures recently.

Reading information from Alipac and in the news stories, Raul Labrador appears to be for some type of amnesty.