Thread: Tea party warns of ‘bait and switch’ on immigration

Tea party warns of ‘bait and switch’ on immigration

By Stephen Dinan
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The Washington Times
Friday, August 2, 2013

Photo by: Manuel Balce Ceneta
Capitol Police officers try to clear a street on Capitol Hill in Washington on Aug. 1, 2013, that was blocked by immigration reform supporters during a rally protesting immigration policies and the HouseGOP’s inability to pass a bill that contains a pathway to citizenship. (Associated Press)

Tea party groups on Friday warned House Republicans they fear GOP leaders are preparing to “pull a bait and switch” that will ultimately allow a broad immigration bill pass that legalizes illegal immigrants.

The 75 signers, which include major tea party and conservative organizations, said they worry House Republican leaders will try to pass a narrow, conservative immigration bill but will then agree to negotiate with the Senate and, in the end, will accept the Senate’s broader bill — including what the groups termed an “amnesty” for illegal immigrants.

The groups urged lawmakers to tell GOP leaders not to enter into those negotiations with the Senate.

“We are calling on each member of the House of Representatives to take immediate action to halt the Senate’s ill-conceived amnesty bill,” wrote the groups.

The letter is in part because it comes just a few days after nearly 100 top Republican donors and former Bush administration officials penned their own letter urging House Republicans to pass a bill that does include legalization.

“Doing nothing is de facto amnesty. We need to take control of whom we let in our country and we need to make sure everybody plays by the same rules,” said the donors, led by Carlos Gutierrez, who was secretary of the Commerce Department in the Bush administration and headed President George W. Bush’s efforts to negotiate an immigration bill in 2007.

The two letters underscore the emerging split within the GOP’s voter base.
Top party officials say the GOP’s political future depends on embracing immigrants, while rank-and-file lawmakers say legalizing illegal immigrants and bringing in new guest-workers will be bad for Americans’ wages.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...h-immigration/

As Paul Ryan has made clear, we can not trust the Republican leadership to stand fast against amnesty. Therefore the best strategy at this time seems to be no bill at all.

But in the future, legislation must require that ILLEGAL ALIENS LEAVE THE COUNTRY. If illegals are not required to leave the country, then they will stay indefinitely and that will be amnesty. Currently nobody is proposing legislation to make illegal aliens leave, and we must demand that they leave as an essential requirement of any immigration laws. This demand must be nonnegotiable.

As Michelle Malkin has sagely said, "it is not secure the border first, it secure the border--period." There is absolutely no reason to link amnesty to securing the border. Secure the border without any conditions should be another nonnegotiable demand.

I think these are the two most important issues that get lost in the debate over immigration policy. In all of the politician's double think and obfuscation we must repeatedly put these two things front and center in every debate.

And of course there must be no amnesty, no legal status of any kind, mandatory e-verify, close down employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens and other "turn off the magnet" type laws.

Tea Party warns GOP of mass exodus if amnesty passes