Pin down your representative on his amnesty position, I'll go first
I corresponded with my representative Raul Labrador (R-ID1), who has historically taken a no-amnesty position, to clarify his current position on amnesty in any form. This took some back and forth but I told him that the President had scorched the voters on this and I wanted to clarify his position.
Response:
I will oppose legislation based on the philosophy of “legalization first, border security later.” No effort to legalize unauthorized immigrants should proceed unless measures to secure the border and guarantee future enforcement, including E-Verify and interior enforcement, are implemented.
(emphasis mine)
In other words, he'll support amnesty under certain conditions.
He also advocated for guest workers:
Finally, we must modernize our guest worker programs. Guest workers are vital to keep industries in America, and particularly in Idaho, competitive internationally. This guest worker program must not include a pathway to citizenship or amnesty for undocumented immigrants and it must not disadvantage American workers.
I pushed back on these points and told him that does not represent my positions. Guest workers are vital?! We naturalize about a million new citizens a year and millions of American citizens are out of work. Aren't Americans vital? Aren't free market intrusions the constraint on our competitiveness internationally?
Labrador is running for Governor of Idaho in 2018. Current governor Butch Otter, who had signed onto the DAPA And DACA lawsuits, is retiring. It seems like we're losing solid no votes.
Who here will contact their representative to get their current positions as I have done and report back?
Full Response:
Thank you for contacting me about immigration reform. I appreciate hearing your thoughts and concerns on this important issue.
In order for our country to have meaningful immigration reform, we must first secure our nation’s borders and start enforcing the immigration laws already enacted. To do so we must give our law enforcement officials the resources they need to enforce these laws. We must also allow local law enforcement to work together with our federal immigration officers in order to provide the interior enforcement needs of this nation.
I will oppose legislation based on the philosophy of “legalization first, border security later.” No effort to legalize unauthorized immigrants should proceed unless measures to secure the border and guarantee future enforcement, including E-Verify and interior enforcement, are implemented.
Finally, we must modernize our guest worker programs. Guest workers are vital to keep industries in America, and particularly in Idaho, competitive internationally. This guest worker program must not include a pathway to citizenship or amnesty for undocumented immigrants and it must not disadvantage American workers.
