Thread: New 'Gang of Eight' on immigration

New 'Gang of Eight' on immigration

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Schumer announced that he and Graham were joining forces on immigration. | AP

By SEUNG MIN KIM | 12/7/12 2:06 PM EST

Make way for a new Gang of Eight.

An octet of senators has begun to meet to discuss immigration reform, multiple sources told POLITICO. It’s a possible sign of progress on what’s expected to be a top legislative priority on Capitol Hill next year.

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Sources said the fledgling group’s members include: Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Michael Bennet of Colorado, Bob Menendez of New Jersey, and Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Mike Lee of Utah and Sen.-elect Jeff Flake of Arizona.

Some of the senators are already publicly teaming up on the issue. For instance, Schumer announced on “Meet the Press” shortly after the election that he and Graham were joining forces again on immigration, reviving talks from 2010 when the duo had outlined a four-point comprehensive reform proposal.

“Graham and I are talking to our colleagues about this right now and I think we have a darn good chance using this blueprint to get something done this year,” Schumer said on the Nov. 11 show. “The Republican Party has learned that being … anti-immigrant doesn’t work for them politically and they know it.”

Several of the members have been key voices on immigration in the past. McCain was a top negotiator in Congress’s last major attempt at comprehensive immigration reform five years ago. Flake drafted an immigration overhaul plan in 2007 with Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.). And Durbin is one of Congress’s most vocal advocates of the DREAM Act.

Schumer and Lee also coauthored an immigration proposal last year that was designed to attract foreign investors to purchase property and live in the United States.

Legislative leaders in both parties have said they want to tackle immigration reform in the next Congress. And President Barack Obama made clear in an interview shortly before his reelection that the issue would be a top priority of his in a second term.

“I am fairly confident that they’re going to have a deep interest in getting that done,” Obama said of Republicans in an interview with the Des Moines Register.

“And I want to get it done because it’s the right thing to do, and I’ve cared about this ever since I ran back in 2008.”

New 'Gang of Eight' on immigration - Seung Min Kim - POLITICO.com

Sources said the fledgling group’s members include: Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Michael Bennet of Colorado, Bob Menendez of New Jersey, and Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Mike Lee of Utah and Sen.-elect Jeff Flake of Arizona.

I doubt that you could find a more accommodating group anywhere in Washington.

So far there's no been one word about E-Verify - except for Obama saying that he doesn't want companies burdened with using something that may not be completely accurate.

These quislings are eager to sell out Americans. Their goal is simply to get re-elected. Disgusting.

Politicos get to keep their jobs, while Americans lose theirs to illegals.
************************************************
Americans first in this magnificent country

American jobs for American workers

Fair trade, not free trade

The full list of traitors will eventually be revealed.

W

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

The full list of traitors will eventually be revealed.

W

I'll keep watch for articles that reveal them one by one.

Senator Mike Lee took a very strong anti-amnesty, pro-enforcement stance when he ran just a couple of years ago. Please call his office, ( 202 - 224 - 5444) tell him not to flip flop and to live up to the promises he recently made regarding this.

Remind him that this was on HIS campaign website ( mikelee2010 dot com; per Wayback Machine, now apparently scrubbed):

Illegal Immigration

The Constitution makes clear that the federal government is responsible for making and enforcing laws governing immigration. The federal government has dropped the ball in this area, allowing—and in some instances even encouraging—tens of millions of people to enter our borders illegally. Congress needs to fix this problem by:

1. Investing in the technology, personnel, and physical infrastructure necessary to secure the southern border
2. Enforcing existing immigration laws
3. Improving and promoting the use of E-Verify—a nationwide immigration-status verification system designed to enable employers to ascertain quickly and accurately whether would-be employees are authorized to work in the United States;
4. Mandating and enforcing the denial of federal and state welfare benefits to illegal immigrants;
5. Clarify the original intent of the citizenship clause through legislation specifying that children born to illegal-alien parents in the United States are not entitled to automatic citizenship; and
6. Making clear that illegal aliens will not receive amnesty in any form, and must return to their own countries before applying for a visa; illegal aliens should receive no benefit from having entered the United States illegally, and should not be granted guest-worker visas or the opportunity to “purchase” lawful immigration status.

By Matt Canham
The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published 34 minutes ago • Updated 7 minutes ago

Washington • Sen. Mike Lee opposed amnesty for illegal immigrants in his 2010 campaign and he continues to oppose it now, which makes his inclusion in a bipartisan group working on comprehensive reform all the more surprising.

Lee is one of four Republicans holding private talks with four Democrats in hopes of overhauling the nation’s immigration laws by the end of 2013.

And yet, Lee is the only participant who has never supported a pathway to legal status or citizenship for the more than 11 million people in this country illegally.

"I’m not interested in anything that offers amnesty and I’ve made no secret about that," he told The Salt Lake Tribune on Wednesday. "But there, I think, is potential to find common ground."

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who is spearheading the effort, personally asked Lee to participate, in part because the two had worked on a smaller immigration bill in 2011. Schumer refused to talk about the working group or Lee’s involvement, but he did offer a quick compliment of the Utah senator.

"In general, I have tremendous respect for Mike Lee even though we disagree on a lot of issues," said Schumer. "He is thoughtful and hard working."

The other Democrats involved are Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois, Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Michael Bennet of Colorado. The Republicans joining Lee are Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Sen.-elect Jeff Flake of Arizona.

Such working groups are common in the Senate, though their success is not. A similar "Gang of Eight" has met for the past few years in an attempt to craft a fiscal reform bill, a goal that has eluded them.

What some staffers have jokingly referred to as the "Gang of Ocho" has met and had preliminary talks, though the hard negotiations won’t take place for months and as a result the members are hesitant to discuss the effort in detail.

Menendez welcomed Lee, one of the Senate’s most conservative members, to the conversation, which has largely stagnated since Congress rejected immigration reform pushed by President George W. Bush in 2007. All of the participants, except for Bennet, Flake and Lee were part of that effort.

Lee rules out