Thread: RNC Chair Priebus: Immigration Reform 'Still Alive' After Midterms

by Tony Lee 5 Nov 2014, 10:18 AM PDT
474 comments

On Wednesday, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said Tuesday's midterm elections did not destroy the chances of amnesty legislation passing.

Addressing reporters along with National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) Chairman Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chairman Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) and former Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuno, Priebus said Republicans from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) to Rand Paul (R-KY) talked about the need for "serious immigration reform."

"The idea of serious immigration reform is still alive and is something that both parties need to look at," Priebus said.

Priebus also said that since Obama has "continuously lied" to "many people in this country" about his intentions on immigration reform and threatened the country with an illegal action on executive amnesty that Obama does not have the power to enact, Obama has "unified the country" against anything Obama wants to do on immigration, because people do not trust him.

He also added that Obama's actions have "solidified the view that we can't get very far unless we secure the border and ensure the American people that we're not going to end up back in this place in ten to 14 years."

Priebus made his remarks a day after Republicans won back Congress, largely because immigration was Obama's worst issue heading into the midterms. He was responding to a question about the GOP's "Growth and Opportunity" report after Mitt Romney's defeat in 2012 that had comprehensive immigration reform as one of its only specific policy recommendations.

"We are not a policy committee, but among the steps Republicans take in the Hispanic community and beyond, we must embrace and champion comprehensive immigration reform," The GOP's "Growth and Opportunity" autopsy (terribly named) reported declared after 2012. "If we do not, our Party’s appeal will continue to shrink to its core constituencies only. We also believe that comprehensive immigration reform is consistent with Republican economic policies that promote job growth and opportunity for all."

Republicans grew their constituency in the midterms by not following the report's advice on amnesty. But establishment Republicans like Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush have insisted that a GOP-led Congress work with Democrats on amnesty legislation.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Governm...After-Midterms

Originally Posted by Jean

Priebus also said that since Obama has "continuously lied" to "many people in this country" about his intentions on immigration reform and threatened the country with an illegal action on executive amnesty that Obama does not have the power to enact, Obama has "unified the country" against anything Obama wants to do on immigration, because people do not trust him.

He also added that Obama's actions have "solidified the view that we can't get very far unless we secure the border and ensure the American people that we're not going to end up back in this place in ten to 14 years."

Republicans seem to have a reflex response re border security, which doesn't acknowledge that the border is too long to be physically secured.

That said, the most effective way to keep illegal aliens from continuing to pour into our country or to overstay their visas is to eliminate the jobs magnet, which attracts most of them. The most effective way to eliminate the jobs magnet is to enact Univeral E-Verify.

No single solution will completely eliminate illegal aliens, but IMO Universal E-Verify would eliminate the largest source of illegal entry. It's simple but effective, and will work for pennies on the enforcement dollar.
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Americans first in this magnificent country

American jobs for American workers

Fair trade, not free trade

Originally Posted by vistalad

Republicans seem to have a reflex response re border security, which doesn't acknowledge that the border is too long to be physically secured.

That said, the most effective way to keep illegal aliens from continuing to pour into our country or to overstay their visas is to eliminate the jobs magnet, which attracts most of them. The most effective way to eliminate the jobs magnet is to enact Univeral E-Verify.

No single solution will completely eliminate illegal aliens, but IMO Universal E-Verify would eliminate the largest source of illegal entry. It's simple but effective, and will work for pennies on the enforcement dollar.
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Americans first in this magnificent country

American jobs for American workers

Fair trade, not free trade

I agree that E-Verify is the best way to reduce the job magnet that lures illegal immigration. But several years ago I took the time to figure up how much it would actually cost to secure the entire southern border and surprisingly it wasn't that much. If we put 24/7 coverage on every mile of the border using 6 person teams per shift plus 2 rovers who would fill in for those on vacation or sick leave for a total of 20 border patrol guards per mile that's an additional border corp of 40,000 for the southern border.

At $40,000 base pay that's only $1.6 billion per year plus another 25% or $400 million for benefits for a total personnel cost of around $2 billion. Add another $1 billion for administration and equipment (vehicles, radios, cameras, scopes, night goggles, camping gear, weapons, training, uniforms or vests, etc.) and that's $3 billion. Add another billion since it's a government function and with certainty would cost more than a private undertaking and that's $4 billion.

Obama just allocated another $6.5 billion for increased anti-Ebola efforts. We annually spend $13 to $14 billion on IRS to collect tax returns which if we pass the FairTax would eliminate that agency and we could divert 1/4 of that savings to Border Patrol for the new 40,000 spotter guards to truly secure the Southern Border.

Often times, there are notions that something that can't be done, when if you put a pencil to it, it really can. It's just like when proponents of amnesty claim we can't afford to deport 10 million illegal aliens, when of course we not only can, we can't afford not to do so. 58% of immigrants both legal and illegal are on some form of welfare, so the perpetual cost of allowing illegal aliens to remain by far exceeds the one-time cost of a plane or bus ticket out of here.

In our vigilance to end this problem once and for all we need to take care not to throw out what is not only possible but sorely needed based on the notion of the cost or scope of the undertaking without actually analyzing and determining what the actual cost or scope is compared to the cost and scope of the problem the undertaking would solve once and for all.

And yes, yes, yes: "Fair trade, not free trade"!

Congratulations everyone for a great election of what could be the group of Congress members who will finally help us to solve this terrible illegal immigration problem for our country and hopefully several more like passing the FairTax and eliminating an income tax that hasn't paid the bills for over a century and has run our industries and capital to foreign lands, while luring illegal aliens and surplus immigrants into a nation that has no job for them except one they steal from an American.

This guy is a switch hitter. A rightie a few days before the election, a lefty the day after? I think he is a republican.

I don't like the man, but let's be honest, his position has not changed. He has always supported immigration reform (amnesty). It is Obama's Executive Order that would grant amnesty to illegals that he doesn't support.