Pence praised for 'wonderful record' on immigration

Monday, July 18, 2016
| Chad Groening (OneNewsNow.com)




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Donald Trump's pick for a vice presidential nominee is getting mixed reviews for his actions on illegal immigration.
"It's a wonderful record," insists, Roy Beck, whose Numbers USA organization analyzes and grades politicians' immigration records.
Pence has a B-minus score at Numbers USA after 12 years in Congress and one term as Indiana governor.
Beck says Pence supported efforts in Congress to reduce illegal immigration and also voted for legislation to slow legal immigration into the United States.
Pence faced off with the Obama administration for planning to locate Syrian refugees in Indiana.
But the current governor deserves criticism for his 2006 proposal known as a "touch-back" plan for illegal immigrants, says William Gheen of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC, or ALIPAC.
"Mike Pence came up with a form of amnesty," Gheen claims, "by which illegal immigrants could satisfy the existing laws by leaving the United States for a few hours, or a few days, and return to the United States legally."
Beck counters that Pence never introduced such legislation but put out a "trial balloon" that resulted in outcry from opponents and damaged Pence's reputation among conservatives.
"Immediately the outcry knocked him right off that pedestal," says Beck, "and it took him some years to earn back the trust of the conservative grassroots after he did that."