Tea Party's Pierson Challenges Pete Sessions on Amnesty Stance

Sunday, 02 Mar 2014 10:40 AM
By Elliot Jager
newsmax

Texas Rep. Pete Sessions told a town hall meeting last year that he does not oppose allowing illegal aliens who do not have a criminal history and are in the country for the "right reason" to stay in America, Breitbart News reported.

Sessions, who is being challenged by tea party aligned candidate Katrina Pierson, is seen on video as saying that the House had designed a system "that would accommodate millions of people who are here for the right reasons, millions of people who today may be illegal — illegally here — but who would be handled fairly under a process."

He also said that no one with a history of having committed a serious crime should be permitted to stay. "We got to worry about trying to define these things and trying to separate" – criminal behavior from being in the country legally.

He said that the vast majority of illegal immigrants would be welcomed.
Sessions does not see this stance as supporting amnesty, according to Breitbart.

The Dallas Morning News reported after a meeting with its editorial board that Sessions backed "a guest worker program under which those in the country illegally could keep their jobs and pay taxes but not obtain citizenship."

Breitbart's Matthew Boyle took Sessions to task for his "de facto" endorsement of the House GOP leadership's position on immigration reform.

Sessions campaign spokesman Bruce Harvie told Breitbart that the congressman is "absolutely opposed to amnesty" and that "everyone with legal status isn't necessarily a permanent resident. " He said that holding a work or seasonal visa did not guarantee future legal status or citizenship.

Pierson is a "fierce fighter against amnesty," according to Breitbart. She said, "Pete Sessions has admitted, on camera, that he supports legalizing millions of illegals."

"That's amnesty, whatever euphemism Sessions wants to apply to it," Pierson said.

Pierson was recently endorsed by Sarah Palin as "an emerging leader and important voice for the future of the grassroots conservative movement."

http://www.newsmax.com/politics/pete...3/02/id/555553

Related:
http://www.alipac.us/f12/gop-congres...ssions-298465/

Ok, we need to look into this race asap. Looks like Arpaio has gotten into some confusing endorsement situations here and since ALIPAC is currently endorsing Sessions we need to ID his true position.

W

http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.c...-instead.html/

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Sheriff Arpaio un-endorses Katrina Pierson, shifts support to Pete Sessions

http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/d1867bf...g%3Fs%3D52&r=G
By Ben Kamisar
bkamisar@dallasnews.com
1:39 pm on March 1, 2014 | Permalink

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http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.c...H_26098501.jpgMaricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio announces Tuesday, July 17, 2012, in Phoenix that President Obama's birth certificate, as presented by the White House in April 2011, is a forgery based on an investigation by the Sheriff's office. (AP Photo/Matt York)

UPDATE at 2:45 p.m.:
In an email, Katrina Pierson said that Arpaio did not inform her before switching his endorsement.
“We are unaware of this information as it has not been relayed to our campaign,” she wrote.
Ken Emanuelson, a Dallas Tea Party activist and a Pierson campaign volunteer, said that he was disappointed that Arpaio felt misled. He added that the campaign had provided the sheriff with rankings from NumbersUSA, a conservative immigration group. Those rankings knocked Sessions for comments during a Dallas Morning News editorial board meeting, where he supported a guest worker program for people living in the country illegally.
ORIGINAL ITEM: WASHINGTON– Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona withdrew his endorsement of tea party congressional candidate Katrina Pierson on Saturday, asserting that she had “misled” him about Rep. Pete Sessions’ views on immigration. He also threw his support to Sessions, R-Dallas, in Tuesday’s primary.
“I was told by Ms. Pierson and her supporters that Pete Sessions was in favor of weakening our nation’s immigration system and was a supporter of amnesty. I’ve since found out that couldn’t be further from the truth,” Arpaio said in a written statement the Sessions campaign planned to release later today. “Pete has been a consistent voice for law enforcement and strong proponent of border security issues throughout his nine terms of service in Congress.”
Arpaio spokesman Brian Murray confirmed the switch.
The Pierson campaign publicized the sheriff’s endorsement in an email to supporters on Thursday afternoon. In the release, Arpaio — sheriff of Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix — lauded Pierson for her support for the enforcement of immigration laws and painted Sessions as weak.
Bruce Harvie, a Sessions spokesman, said the botched endorsement was indicative of the “lies and distortions” fueling the Pierson campaign.
“Ms. Pierson should be ashamed for misleading an individual of such great respect in the law enforcement community and as a national conservative leader,” he said.
Arpaio is known in conservative circles for being an immigration hardliner and a strong supporter of the notion that President Barack Obama forged his birth certificate.

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I believe the sheriff has been told the "The congressman is against any amnesty" lie.