Backwards: House GOP, Dems May Put Amnesty Before Enforcement

House Republicans who support amnesty may ultimately make a deal with Democrats in which they put amnesty above enforcement. 

According to Politico, the “immigration principles” document House Republicans are drafting and will most likely be released before President Barack Obama’s Jan. 28 State of the Union address will have some kind of pathway to citizenship provision. House Republicans are insisting that enforcement and border security will come before amnesty. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) has reportedly been “working on a legalization bill” that “will most likely use border-security and interior-enforcement triggers on the legalization path, with a probationary period along the pathway.”

That may still not be enough for Democrats that Republicans may need to pass immigration legislation in the House. Politico suggested that to make the bill more palatable to Democrats, “Congress could empower state and local law enforcement officials only after” illegal immigrants “start their legalization process.”

The Congressional Budget Office determined that the pathway to citizenship provision in the Senate’s immigration bill will lower the wages of working class Americans. Eighteen House Members recently declared that amnesty would be a final blow for American workers who are already struggling in this economy.

House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) top amnesty adviser is leading the effort to draft the “principles.”