Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama is warning that the 2016 election could determine whether the Gang of Eight, a group of senators who pushed for allowing greater immigration, runs the White House.
Presidential contender Sen. Marco Rubio was a key member of the Gang. Sessions is emphasizing that powerful forces behind the Gang of Eight are only getting started, and the same special interest coalition is already planning its next push for open borders.
Sessions began his remarks with an effort to correct the record on claims from Senator Rubio about Senator Ted Cruz.
“Every step of the way Ted Cruz was on my side and fought this legislation all the way through,” Sessions declared. “People need to remember this because this election is going to decide– did the crowd who pushed that bill, are they in the White House? And will they be able to continue their agenda? Or will somebody else be there who will say, ‘No.'”
Sessions explained that despite the American people’s clear repudiation of their plan, the Gang of Eight remains determined to implement their border-opening immigration agenda as soon as they have another chance. “I will say one more time,” Sessions proclaimed, “They are not through. They are determined. They’ve got money, interest groups, power, media that support this agenda and the next president who gets elected is going to determine what kind of immigration system we have.”
The remarks came during a Ted Cruz rally in Alabama. Watch the complete speech:
Indeed, just this year Marco Rubio introduced a new bill, known as the I-Squared bill, which would have allowed for virtually unlimited Muslim migration.
As conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly told Breitbart News exclusively, “The Gang of Eight was dangerous.”
In an exclusive statement to Breitbart, Cruz’s national spokesman, Rick Tyler said, “Jeff Sessions is the gold standard on immigration and national security. Grateful for him setting the record straight.”
During the rally, Sessions told briefly delved into the history of the Gang of Eight fight in Congress. Sessions explained that after the American people rejected the 2007 immigration expansion push, the same group of immigration expansionists got back together to form the Gang of Eight and begin their efforts again:
In 2013, the same group again, they spent a $1.5 billion to promote this legislation, they hired political consultants, they had pollsters hired and polling to try to spin the numbers in any way possible to advance this agenda, they had special interest groups, they met for months– The Gang of Eight. And they were determined, they were going to move this bill to passage. And it was a near-run thing.. it was a worse bill everybody would acknowledge… than the 2007 bill. It gave amnesty first and then a promise over a period of years, even decades, of enforcement, that if history follows the path, would never have occurred.
Reports during that time confirm that the same group behind the 2007 push reunited for the 2013 immigration expansion fight. As National Review’s May 2013 magazine cover story explained:
The same senators who pushed such a bill in 2007, prominently including Republicans John McCain and Lindsey Graham and Democrat Chuck Schumer, are at it again. They have devised a plan that would ease the path to legality for illegal immigrants while making some gestures toward enforcement. But a new element this time around is Marco Rubio. A tea-party favorite (and a favorite of this magazine)… Rubio became part of the ‘Gang of Eight,’ four Democrats and four Republicans negotiating a deal that sought to placate a dizzying array of interests, all seeking de facto unlimited immigration but each with a different set of specific concerns… The Schumer-Rubio bill simply seeks to placate every interest group at the table by handing out more visas.
“The Gang of Eight met every day,” Session said in his Saturday remarks.
They also had been meeting for months with special interest groups, the activist groups, the La Raza groups… and the business groups who wanted lower, more and more cheap labor… And as they met they had a scheme– a plan. And the plan was that they would vote down every amendment no matter what the amendment was. And they wanted to do that because the said they had achieved, through the secret meetings, a delicate balance between enforcement– and they had the ‘perfect bill’– and they couldn’t alter it in any way. And every amendment that came up in the Senate Judiciary Committee was voted down by this bipartisan [group]– every Democrat and a number of Republicans– voting with it. So I’ve got to tell you. It was a tense, tough battle.
Sessions continued:
The toughest, most exiting exchange I think that occurred was Ted Cruz and Chuck Schumer over citizenship. It’s one of the few times I’ve ever seen Schumer, who is very talented, actually be flummoxed a bit– he almost got to the point of accusing Ted of being anti-Hispanic. I kid you not. But it was clear, that was a central, determining essence– one of the things they wanted was citizenship for people who came illegally.
Sessions explained, “It makes no sense– you cannot provide to somebody who enters the country… illegally every benefit you give to someone who comes legally. Surely citizenship– the capstone of what America gives– ought not to be given who enter the country in violation of our very laws. Give me a break.”
While Ted Cruz has opposed citizenship for illegals, Marco Rubio– as recently as the last presidential debate– has expressed his support for giving illegal immigrants the right to become voting citizens. Sessions has previously said that supporting citizenship for illegal should be disqualifying for any Republican candidate for president:
Supporting citizenship for illegal immigrants should be disqualifying. Just like we can’t have a GOP nominee who supports Obamacare, we can’t have a GOP nominee who supports amnesty. Our priority needs to be helping get unemployed Americans back to work, not replacing them with lower-wage labor from abroad.
Sessions concluded by saying that the American people ought to thank Cruz for helping stop Marco Rubio’s immigration agenda. “Without the vigorous opposition of Ted Cruz this bill likely would have passed, so we need to thank him for that,” Sessions said.
“Ted Cruz was with me, and Steve King and Mike Lee and others who opposed this bill. And don’t let anyone tell you differently,” Sessions said. “It was critical to the success that we had.”
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