Thread: Scott Walker reverses amnesty stance in bid to woo conservative primary voters

Wisconsin’s Republican governor now espouses security-first immigration approach

By Seth McLaughlin - The Washington Times - Monday, April 6, 2015

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has become the latest potential Republican presidential candidate to try to tailor his position on immigration to the party’s primary electorate, assuring voters that he is now against granting citizenship rights to illegal immigrants.

Mr. Walker was for a path to citizenship before he was against it, having embraced it in 2013 before reversing himself this year, now espousing a security-first approach that has become the fallback position for much of the Republican presidential field.

“I do not believe in amnesty for citizenship,” Mr. Walker said at a press conference in Milwaukee this week. “I believe if someone wants to become a citizen, they need to go to their country of origin and come in the same system just like anyone else.”

His new stance has drawn derision from immigrant rights advocates, who say he’s chasing after conservative primary voters at the expense of the broader electorate he would face if he becomes the GOP’s nominee. Those activists say Republican candidates are undercutting their chances of winning Hispanic voters in 2016 and beyond after 2012 nominee Mitt Romney’s “self-deportation” message helped sink the GOP to barely a quarter of Latinos’ votes that year.

So far, the likely 2016 field has shied away from “self-deportation,” but most of them have taken a hard line against “amnesty” and citizenship. Those bucking that trend include former Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio, both of Florida, and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who have been more open to legalization and an eventual pathway to citizenship.

“If you could get a consensus done, where you could have a bill done and it was 15 years [to achieve citizenship] as the Senate Gang of Eight did, I’d be supportive of that,” Mr. Bush recently said during a swing through New Hampshire, alluding to the comprehensive immigration that Mr. Rubio and Mr. Graham helped usher through the Senate in 2013.

GOP-friendly business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and big-dollar donors also want to see more generous immigration laws and, particularly, an enhanced guest-worker program to gain access to new foreign labor.

Conservative activists, meanwhile, want stricter immigration laws. They say the party must protect American workers by bolstering border security and internal enforcement of laws already on the books — an approach that includes deporting those who have overstayed their visas or entered the country illegally.

Their base, they argue, will reward them at the polls for opposing amnesty.

GOP presidential candidates are trying to figure out which of those two poles to tilt toward, with many of them calling for stricter enforcement against illegal immigration, but also vowing a more generous approach toward future legal immigrants.

As for Mr. Walker, he is trying to recalibrate.

He supported a 2006 resolution as Milwaukee County executive that urged Congress to pass the Senate’s legalization bill that year, written by Sens. John McCain and Edward M. Kennedy and backed by President George W. Bush, which offered a path to citizenship for almost all illegal immigrants.

Then, in 2013, as the issue was heating up again, Mr. Walker was asked by the Wausau Daily Herald if he could support a situation where illegal immigrants could get citizenship if they met conditions such as paying penalties and waiting for some years. “Yeah, sure,” he replied.

“You hear some people talk about border security and a wall and all that,” Mr. Walker also said during the interview. “To me, I don’t know that you need any of that if you had a better, saner way to let people into the country in the first place.”

But in March he flatly said during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” “My view has changed.”

Since then, Mr. Walker faced additional scrutiny after The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and CNN reported he told Republicans at a private dinner in New Hampshire that he still supported a pathway to citizenship.

The Walker camp vehemently denied the report, and Mr. Walker has stated his new crackdown position on a trip last month to the U.S.-Mexico border with Texas Governor Greg Abbott, as well as at a press conference Monday.

The top priority of the federal government, he said, should be border enforcement and then developing an E-Verify system “to make sure the people working for them are legal to work for them, are legal to be in the United States.”

“Then the next president and the Congress are going to have to look at working together on a policy for what to do for others who are seeking something other then citizenship,” he said. “But, believe me, that is going to take a fair amount of time, just because those are currently not the priorities of this federal government.”

Mr. Walker’s rivals and their supporters say the governor has a pattern of being wishy-washy on hot-button issues.

Pro-immigration advocates, meanwhile, said Mr. Walker’s reversal could haunt him.

“Politically, it might as well have the Mitt Romney 2012 seal of approval, as it’s tilting dangerously toward the infamous ‘self-deportation’ concept,” said Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice. “Not only does the transparent pandering to hard-line primary voters threaten the eventual Republican nominee’s chances of retaking the White House, but it goes beyond immigration to raise larger questions and concerns of character, consistency and leadership.”

But Charles Franklin, political science professor at Marquette University in Wisconsin, said that he thinks Mr. Walker’s shift is in part “genuine” and in part a reflection of the “evolution on the issue within the Republican Party.”

“It wasn’t that long ago that President Bush was pushing for immigration reform,” Mr. Franklin said. “In the time since then, the center of gravity in the party has moved noticeably farther toward the ‘no pathway to citizenship’ position.”

Backed by Mr. Bush, the GOP-led Senate passed an immigration legalization bill in 2006, but it failed to see action in the House. A year later, with Democrats in control, the Senate tried again but failed when a bipartisan filibuster blocked the legislation.

In 2013 Mr. Rubio and Mr. Graham tried again, along with Mr. McCain, Sen. Jeff Flake, Arizona Republican, and four Democrats. The bill they wrote, which offered quick legalization and an extended, multitiered path to citizenship to most illegal immigrants, passed on a 68-32 vote, with 14 Republicans joining Democrats.

For his part, Mr. Rubio, who is expected to enter the presidential race on April 13, now says the experience taught him that Congress will not be able to give the immigration system a much-needed face-lift until voters are convinced that the federal government has secured the nation’s borders.

Steven A. Camarota, research director at the Center for Immigration Studies, said that Mr. Walker has the chance to seize the populist mantle in the 2016 GOP race with a pro-worker message, but said he is “floundering” by not supporting stricter limits on the level of future legal immigration, which could leave American workers facing competition for jobs.

“It is a little disappointing in that he has had time to think about what he has to say and has kind of been all over the place,” Mr. Camarota said. “It is too bad. He is missing an opportunity as a top-tier candidate to distance himself from people like Rand Paul and Jeb Bush, who call for big increases in legal immigration.

“To do that he needs a more populist economic message, and immigration is staring him in the face, and he just hasn’t been able to articulate it,” he said. “He may miss out on the chance.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...-in-bid-to-wo/

What all these candidates need to understand and deal with is the fact that Americans are fed up with immigration, they're sick and tired of having to step over and around immigrants everywhere we go, having to compete with them for seats in college, stand behind them in shopping lines, wait behind them in emergency rooms, pay taxes to underwrite them, see our friends, family and co-workers being laid off and replaced with them, and watch our government create a new special class of protected persons who are above the law while the hammer comes down on Americans.

I truly don't know who these candidates believe are going to vote in the US Presidential Election, but the vast majority of voters will be the Americans these candidates are selling out, disregarding and treating like the plague, which Americans will not tolerate. So if they want votes from Americans, they better start dancing to our tune or lose. Americans really want a stop to all this immigration nonsense, both illegal and legal. We need a 10 year moratorium on all immigration to allow ample time to correct the problem, remove illegal aliens, and reset the system so we are not importing poverty or people who will cost Americans their jobs and taxpayers a lot of money we don't have.

I am not too concerned about Scott Walkers vacillating on amnesty because it shows me he will yield to pressure from those fighting against amnesty. Unlike Marko Rubio who double talks to defend his treacherous behavior and Mike Huckabe who thinks there is a religious imperative to pander to illegal aliens and Rand Paul who argues with patriots over amnesty and appears willing to throw them under the buss to facilitate his grand delusion of bringing in different groups (liberal determined divisions) of people to build a new coalition of GOP voters.

The GOP does not need to build a “new collation” based on Marxists’ views of the American population. It needs to appeal to all of those American citizens who feel betrayed and alienated by both parties --the great American middle that is constantly ignored by politicians who think pandering to every subdivision of the population (other than the great middle) is the way to win elections.

I do not remember exact numbers but the number of eligible voters keeps shrinking every election, millions of people who could easily provide a great margin of victory. And that is precisely because they are alienated by Democrat and RINO hacks who get all excited about the silly minor issues of everyone else other than them with their real, serious concerns.

I will not yield to manipulation, flip-floppers flip to manipulate me into believing in them. Then after they get what they wanted, flop, they roll over again. If by the time you reach 35 years of age and they do not have a good sense of their personal principles, they will allow themselves to be purchased by any open wallet! Oh, not again, flip-flop.

12:08 PM 04/09/2015
Sarah Hurtubise

Expected 2016 GOP candidate Scott Walker is making a concerted effort to clarify his stance on the country’s immigration policy.

Wisconsin Gov. Walker, who’s expected to run for president in 2016, has said candidly that he’s changed his mind on immigration reform after saying in 2013 that he could see a plan in which illegal immigrants could eventually become citizens. On Wednesday night with Fox’s Sean Hannity, Walker tried to strengthen his position on securing the border and preventing illegal immigration in the first place.

“In Texas in particular, [Texas Gov.] Greg Abbott showed me with the men and women on the ground from the local level to the state level to even some of the fine men and women who work for the federal government, and they show that we’re just being overrun, that this is an issue of safety, of security, national security, it’s ultimately an issue of sovereignty,” Walker began.

“If the United States was being attacked in one of our water ports on the East or West Coast, we’d be sending in our military forces, and yet we’re facing some of the same challenges with international criminal organizations, the cartels that are trafficking not only drugs but weapons and humans, and we need to step up and be aggressive,” Walker continued. “that means securing the border with infrastructure, with technology, with personnel and the federal government’s got to lead the way. We can’t expect the border states to do this alone.”

“You can’t be talking about anything else until you do that,” Walker concluded. “Once you do that, then we can talk about enforcing the laws — by using an effective E-verify system for all employers…and making sure that any legal immigration system — no amnesty — any legal immigration system we go forward with is one that ultimately has to protect American workers and make sure American wages are going up.”

While Walker stated his opposition to amnesty, he did not clarify what solution he supports for illegal immigrants already in the U.S. The expected candidate has been plagued by reports that he does support a pathway to citizenship for those in the country illegally.

The Wall Street Journal most recently reported that Walker told New Hampshire GOP donors that he’d support allowing undocumented immigrants to “eventually get their citizenship without being given preferential treatment.” Walker’s staff vehemently denied the report and he appears intent on countering the claim.

Walker’s mention of immigration’s effect on American wages touches on a contentious issue that many potential 2016 candidates have avoided. But previously, even President Obama, who’s currently battling federal courts to allow his most recent executive actions on amnesty to move forward, has said that a blast of illegal immigration would take a toll on some workers’ wages.

http://dailycaller.com/2015/04/09/sc...l-immigration/

“In Texas in particular, [Texas Gov.] Greg Abbott showed me with the men and women on the ground from the local level to the state level to even some of the fine men and women who work for the federal government, and they show that we’re just being overrun, that this is an issue of safety, of security, national security, it’s ultimately an issue of sovereignty,” Walker began.

Really, Scott? You mean you needed a personal tour of Texas escorted by the Governor with lots of local, state and federal men and women presumably from law enforcement and Border Patrol for you to "see" that we're being over-run by illegal aliens and learn that this is an issue of safety, national security and sovereignty?

SERIOUSLY?! Do you not read? Do you not inquire? Do you not investigate? Do you not research? Do you not do any of these things before you mouth an opinion on national issues? You take no interest in the afflictions of our nation until you're making a run for the Presidency and you realize illegal immigration is the Number One Issue of the 2016 Elections and only after a personal tour of Texas with the Governor and an entourage of law enforcement do you even realize we're being "over-run"?

Well, welcome to the United States, Scott. But you're a little late and too far behind to lead the solutions to a problem you didn't even know existed until you wanted to be President.

Originally Posted by Judy

Really, Scott? You mean you needed a personal tour of Texas escorted by the Governor with lots of local, state and federal men and women presumably from law enforcement and Border Patrol for you to "see" that we're being over-run by illegal aliens and learn that this is an issue of safety, national security and sovereignty?

SERIOUSLY?! Do you not read? Do you not inquire? Do you not investigate? Do you not research? Do you not do any of these things before you mouth an opinion on national issues? You take no interest in the afflictions of our nation until you're making a run for the Presidency and you realize illegal immigration is the Number One Issue of the 2016 Elections and only after a personal tour of Texas with the Governor and an entourage of law enforcement do you even realize we're being "over-run"?

Well, welcome to the United States, Scott. But you're a little late and too far behind to lead the solutions to a problem you didn't even know existed until you wanted to be President.

Wisconsin is not exactly a hotbed for illegal immigration. I for one am glad he went to the border to see with his own eyes what was going on. Honestly, I'd rather have someone running that we still have the potential to mould to our way of thinking vice someone like Rand Paul that is already a proven amnesty supporter. Like I've said before, I'll wait and see how he evolves on the issue before I make a final judgement on whether to support him or not.

Originally Posted by MW

Wisconsin is not exactly a hotbed for illegal immigration. I for one am glad he went to the border to see with his own eyes what was going on. Honestly, I'd rather have someone running that we still have the potential to mould to our way of thinking vice someone like Rand Paul that is already a proven amnesty supporter. Like I've said before, I'll wait and see how he evolves on the issue before I make a final judgement on whether to support him or not.

Well, here's what Scott Walker said about the issue in Wisconsin less than 2 years ago:

Eighty five thousand undocumented immigrants in Wisconsin, study says

November 18, 2014 10:07 pm • Andrew Bahl

The number of undocumented workers in Wisconsin has stayed relatively stable since 2007, according to a study conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center.

The study, which addresses trends in illegal immigration across the country from 2009 to 2012, says that Wisconsin’s 85,000 undocumented workers make up 1.5 percent of the state’s population and 1.8 percent of its labor force, less than the national averages of 3.5 percent and 5.1 percent, respectively.

The study also reported 55,000 people work illegally in the state while spouses and minors make up the rest of the undocumented population.

The number of undocumented immigrants nationwide was pegged at 11.2 million in the report. Like in Wisconsin, this number has stayed roughly the same since the last time data was collected in 2007.

Gov. Scott Walker has stopped short of supporting pathways for undocumented workers to become citizens but does want them to remain in the country.

“If people want to come here and work hard and benefit … I want them here,” he said in a July 2013 interview with the Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune, acknowledging that many Wisconsin farms benefit from migrant labor.

More recently, Walker called the plight of undocumented minors in the U.S. “heartbreaking.”

“You think of the trauma these kids are going through to get here, and you think of the trauma before that,” Walker said in July. “I put them on my own personal prayer list.”

On the national level, President Barack Obama and Republican congressional leaders have recently sparred over the possibility of unilateral executive action that would prevent the deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants.

Read more: http://host.madison.com/daily-cardin...#ixzz3WvXJwi8L

So, now he doesn't "want them here"? He doesn't care about their "trauma" any more? He's taken them off his "personal prayer list"? He no longer feels their "plight is heartbreaking"? He no longer thinks the Wisconsin farms "benefit from migrant labor"?

He's not evolving, he's lying to try to become the Republican Party nominee for President. I can't think of anything more disgusting than a President of the United States with illegal aliens on his "own personal prayer list" instead of the bankrupt taxpayers footing the bill for such stupidity and the poor American Workers who are unemployed or underpaid and struggling to survive because of them, who by the way are the ones who should be on the "personal prayer list" of any candidate for President who has one.

Scott Walker is only changing his tune on his prior support for amnesty for illegals because his campaign's internal GOP primary polling shows him what we already know. He cant win the primary unless he pretends to support those he needs votes from.

But if he uses this tactic to win, he will turn around and screw us all like John McCain.

In the 11 years Ive been fighting illegal immigration Ive seen many politicians claim to back away from Amnesty temporarily. But Ive never seen anyone truly change over to our side... eg John McCain.

W