GOP’s Cathy McMorris Rodgers: Ryan Bill ‘Does Not Provide Amnesty to Anyone’

GOP legislators should tell voters that House Speaker Paul Ryan’s amnesty bill is not an amnesty bill, says Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, chairwoman of the House Republican Conference.

“The bill does not provide amnesty to anyone … The bill simply allows the DACA population – children who were brought here through no fault of their own and grew up in the United States – an opportunity to get right with the law and earn a legal status in our country,” says the talking-points memo issued June 15 by McMorris Rodgers.

“The leadership is completely ready to totally lie about this bill,” responded Rosemary Jenks, the public policy director at NumbersUSA. She continued: 

Their talking points include things like ‘This is not amnesty,’ ‘There is no specal path to citienship,’ ‘ There is a guaranteed border wall,’ and none of that is true … She is telling her colleagues to lie to people who know it is a lie because they have common sense and a good grasp of the English language.

Politically, the leadership is putting the entire party at risk with disingenuous and dishonest propaganda to their own colleagues.

The memo was issued late on Friday night to promote Ryan’s amnesty bill which offers amnesty to at least 1.8 million illegal immigrants.

The message tries to downplay the demand by GOP donors for more cheap labor, yet it describes immigration as a tool for business groups and also reveals that Ryan plans to expand the H-2B visa-worker program.

Some of the phrases chosen by McMorris Rodgers are even plagiarized from pro-amnesty speeches by President Barack Obama, who also supported cheap-labor immigration.

McMorris Rodgers writes that the amnesty bill gives illegals the opportunity “to get right with the law.”

In November 2014, Obama declared his “DAPA”  amnesty for the parents of U.S.-born children would allow the migrants to “get right with the law.”

In talking points added to the email, McMorris Rodgers says the Ryan amnesty will “end the threat of amnesty once and for all … by providing a bridge into the legal immigration system for young immigrants brought here through no fault of their own.”

Obama used that same up-is-down language. He argued in November 2014 that his refusal to enforce immigration laws counts as the real amnesty, and it would be ended by a bigger non-enforcement policy:

I know some of the critics of the action call it amnesty. Well, it’s not. Amnesty is the immigration system we have today. Millions of people who live here without paying their taxes or playing by the rules, while politicians use the issue to scare people and whip up votes at election time. That’s the real amnesty, leaving this broken system the way it is.

McMorris Rodgers’ email included a PDF document, titled “Charge-and-Response: Border Security and Immigration Reform Act.” The PDF downplays the donor priorities that have shaped Ryan’s amnesty bill:

Charge: This bill resulted from a top-down process that does the bidding of special interests.

Response: This bill was produced, in close consultation with the Administration, through discussions between members across the Conference with diverse viewpoints who came together to develop a consensus approach that secures the border, allows DACA recipients to earn their way into the legal immigration system, and ensures this problem is not repeated. This product is the result of their hard work.

But elsewhere McMorris Rodgers’ pitch echoes the GOP donors’ demand that the nation’s immigration policy should serve their business purposes, and not serve Americans’ desire for a middle-class lifestyle, marriage and kids:

KEY MESSAGE: America is a nation of immigrants; however, our current immigration system is outdated and failing the American people. The status quo on the border puts us in danger, and our current immigration system keeps the best and brightest from coming here legally.  For the first time in decades, we are taking serious steps to fix our visa and immigration system while fully funding the President’s request to build the border wall. This bill starts a step-by-step approach, and the first step is building a wall and securing our border.

In reality, America is a nation of 285 million Americans, 35 million legal immigrants and roughly 11 million illegal immigrants.

Also, many polls show that Americans want to reduce immigration from the current level of 1.1 million immigrants per year. That inflow is very large in proportion to the 4 million young Americans who enter the job market each year.

Many polls also show that Americans want immigration rules which prevent companies from hiring cheap-labor immigrants until nearly all Americans have good jobs. But business uses immigration to flood the labor market and suppress salaries, especially during periods of economic growth.

That business-first message is repeated through McMorris Rodger’s pitch. For example, she says the bill is not “anti-family” because the chain-migration visas are being given to business interests:

Charge: The elimination of certain family preference visa categories is anti-family.

Response: The bill preserves preferences for unification of the nuclear family. The bill also seeks to provide more balance to our immigration system. Currently, less than 15% of the green cards we issue on an annual basis go to people based on the needs of U.S. employers and our economy. No other country’s immigration system works this way. This legislation shifts some visas currently available for married children of U.S. citizens and siblings of adult U.S. citizens to merit and employment based visa categories.

In a question about the agriculture sector’s demand for more cheap workers, McMorris Rodgers promises more even cheap labor for business:

Charge: This bill doesn’t address agricultural guestworkers, E-Verify, or the H-2B program.

Response: This bill sets the stage for further conversations and legislative action on other parts of our immigration system, including the agricultural guestworker program and the H-2B program.

Ryan has repeatedly pushed for an expansion of the H-2B visa program, which supplies roughly 80,000 manual laborers to summer employers, including restaurants, resorts, landscapes, fish-processors, and forestry companies.

The talking points also claim that Ryan’s bill will enact Trump’s “Four Pillars” immigration reform — but it changes one of the most important pillars into PR fluff.

That pillar is Trump’s repeatedly call for the end of extended family chain-migration which brings about 60 percent of migrants into the United States each year via several routes. Ending chain-migration would raise Americans wages and also pressure coastal investors to hire Americans in middle-America cities instead of hiring workers in the coastal cities populated by new immigrants.

But McMorris Rodgers converts Trump’s “chain migration” pillar into “merit immigration.”

Charge: This bill doesn’t meet the President’s immigration reform and border security framework.

Response: This bill delivers on all 4 of the President’s 4 pillars – border security, visa lottery, moving to a merit-based system, and DACA.

Moreover, Ryan’s amnesty bill sets the definition of merit very low. People who graduate high school are deemed to have enough merit to become citizens of the United States.

Overall, McMorris Rodgers’ talking points echo the GOP’s donor-driven demand for more legal immigrants to help cut wages, raise consumption, expand the economy and boost Wall Street. That business-first policy is very different from Trump’s populist lower-immigration/higher wages campaign.

The words “wage” or “salary” do not appear in McMorris Rogers’ talking points.

McMorris Rodgers thanked several business-first “moderates” in her cover email, including Florida’s Rep. Carlos Curbelo who led the discharge-petition push, and Washington’s Rep. Dan Newhouse, who is pushing for a huge inflow of very low wage guest-workers for the agriculture industry.

From: “McMorris Rodgers, Cathy” <XXXXXX@mail.house.gov>
Date: June 15, 2018 at 9:20:01 PM EDT
Subject: Immigration Reform Messaging
Dear Colleagues:

In preparation for the action we will be taking to secure our nation, I wanted to share with you some topline messaging as well as a charge and response. I also want to thank a few of our colleagues who I have been working with to develop our messaging on this issue – Carlos Curbelo, Randy Weber, Jeff Duncan, Dan Newhouse, Kevin Yoder and Drew Ferguson. Our hope is that you will find these useful as you head back to your districts this weekend and in the weeks to come. As always, please do not hesitate to reach out if you have thoughts and ideas on how we can message all of the incredible work we are doing as House Republicans. I hope you have a great weekend!

Cathy

Newhouse owns a farm in Washington State. McMorris Rodgers’ family also owns a farm in the state.

That demand for more imported labor and consumers is a central goal of the donors who are funding the group of GOP politicians who signed the discharge-amnesty list and forced the creation of the “moderate” immigration bill.

“Our goal is to not cut legal immigration,” Curbelo told RollCall.com on June 8. The number of illegals who get green cards from the amnesty should be “as high a number as possible,” he said.  On June 13, Curbelo repeated his demand, telling TheHill.com that “some visas may be shifted towards employment visas, but our goal is to not cut legal immigration.”

ABIC promotes sensible immigration reform that supports the economy of the United States, provides American companies with both the high-skilled and low-skilled talent they need, and allows the integration of immigrants into our economy as consumers, workers, entrepreneurs and citizens.

This is the message in the McMorris Rodger email:

Border Security and Immigration Reform Act

TOPLINE: Our immigration bill fulfills the President’s promises to secure our border, stop illegal immigration, close enforcement loopholes, and end the threat of amnesty.

KEY MESSAGE: America is a nation of immigrants; however, our current immigration system is outdated and failing the American people. The status quo on the border puts us in danger, and our current immigration system keeps the best and brightest from coming here legally.  For the first time in decades, we are taking serious steps to fix our visa and immigration system while fully funding the President’s request to build the border wall. This bill starts a step-by-step approach, and the first step is building a wall and securing our border. It also ensures we won’t be back here in the same situation 10-15 years from now.

FIRST: Securing the Border & Enforcing the Rule of Law

How are we going to do this?

• The bill begins to secure our nation by stopping the flow of illegal immigration.
• It is specifically designed to first guarantee border security, enforce the rule of law, and close loopholes that currently exist within our immigration system by:
  • Providing $25 billion in advanced appropriations to build the wall.
  • Including the Department of Homeland Security’s highest priority operational needs to secure the border, close immigration loopholes, and enforce the rule of law.
  • Ending visa overstays with biometric entry-exit capability.
  • Ending catch and release.
  • Protecting our most vulnerable from human traffickers, fentanyl dealers, terrorists, and violent criminals coming across the border.
  • Cracking down on sanctuary cities by creating protections for those jurisdictions that comply with detainers and liability for those that release dangerous criminals.

SECOND: Stopping the Threat of Amnesty

How are we going to do this?

• Unlike the 1986 immigration bill, we end the threat of amnesty once and for all.  This bill does not guarantee citizenship or provide a special path for anyone.
• After border security and enforcement provisions are met, it addresses the DACA issue by providing a bridge into the legal immigration system for young immigrants brought here through no fault of their own.

THIRD: Addressing the DACA Issue

How are we going to do this?

• After the wall is funded and border security enhanced, young immigrants brought to our country as children would have the opportunity to get right with the law, apply for a merit-based visa, and get in line like everyone else.

• There is no guarantee that these individuals will become citizens and there is no special path for them.

• If these individuals meet certain requirements they may be eligible to remain in the country legally.  Subsequently, they may earn legal permanent residence status based on education, military service, employment, and English proficiency achievements.

This is the message in the McMorris Rodgers PDF document:

Charge-and-Response: Border Security and Immigration Reform Act

1. Charge: This bill provides amnesty to those who have broken our immigration laws.

Response: The bill does not provide amnesty to anyone. It significantly strengthens our border security by ensuring funding for the wall and closes loopholes in immigration enforcement – delivering on the administration’s top priorities. The bill simply allows the DACA population – children who were brought here through no fault of their own and grew up in the United States – an opportunity to get right with the law and earn a legal status in our country. If these individuals meet certain requirements they may be eligible to remain in the country legally. Subsequently, they may earn legal permanent residence status based on education, military service, employment, and English proficiency achievements. The bill, which provides the most significant structural reform to our immigration system in decades, also requires the border wall to be funded before new visas are available to the DACA population.

2. Charge: This bill provides a special pathway and guarantees citizenship to DACA recipients.

Response: This bill provides no special pathway and does not guarantee citizenship to DACA recipients. The DACA population will have to get in line like everyone else, and will only be able to earn citizenship through existing paths, including the new merit-based program, where they can compete with other individuals seeking visas based on merit.

3. Charge: This bill repeats the mistakes of the past by providing immigration benefits without a guarantee of border security.

Response: This bill has a built-in trigger that ensures robust funding for border security before the DACA population is able to compete for the new merit-based visas. The bill specifically requires that advanced appropriations must not have been rescinded or transferred to another account in order for any visas to be issued under the new merit based category created by the bill. This bill also delivers the administration’s most important policy priorities to stop the flow of illegal aliens and illicit drugs across the border, and those reforms would be implemented immediately.

4. Charge: This bill doesn’t fully fund the Border Wall.

Response: This bill provides $25 billion in advanced appropriations to fully fund the President’s request, fulfilling the promise to build the border wall, as well as fund border technology, biometric entry/exit, and access roads along the border. The bill also authorizes use of the National Guard along the southern border to construct physical barriers and provide other support. The authorization includes full deployment of the Biometric Entry-Exit System at all air, land, and sea ports of entry.to combat visa overstays.

5. Charge: This bill doesn’t address agricultural guestworkers, E-Verify, or the H-2B program.

Response: This bill sets the stage for further conversations and legislative action on other parts of our immigration system, including the agricultural guestworker program and the H-2B program. This bill is not all-inclusive, it is not comprehensive. Comprehensive bills have failed in the past. We need to address the issues in our immigration system on a step-by-step basis—beginning with border security first and foremost. That’s what this bill does. It encompasses the President’s four pillars and lays the groundwork

for further reforms. Leadership has committed to move agricultural guestworker reforms, H-2B reforms, and E-Verify in the coming weeks.

6. Charge: This bill doesn’t meet the President’s immigration reform and border security framework.

Response: This bill delivers on all 4 of the President’s 4 pillars – border security, visa lottery, moving to a merit-based system, and DACA. We directly meet all of these objectives in the bill, and have produced a plan designed to pass the House and get signed into law. This legislation builds the wall, secures the border, and includes the Department of Homeland Security’s highest priority operational needs as it relates to immigration enforcement, eliminates the visa lottery and two family-based immigration categories in favor of merit-based immigration, and provides a permanent solution for the DACA population.

7. Charge: This bill resulted from a top-down process that does the bidding of special interests.

Response: This bill was produced, in close consultation with the Administration, through discussions between members across the Conference with diverse viewpoints who came together to develop a consensus approach that secures the border, allows DACA recipients to earn their way into the legal immigration system, and ensures this problem is not repeated. This product is the result of their hard work.

8. Charge: This is a border/immigration enforcement bill that fails to provide a meaningful solution for DACA recipients who may be impacted in the future by the uncertain status of the program.

Response: This bill provides certainty and hope for individuals brought into this country at no fault of their own. It also provides them a bridge to the legal immigration system – a rigorous set of requirements that ensure they show good moral character, do not commit crimes, and are productive members of society.

9. Charge: This bill does not address the separation of children from parents who are apprehended at the border.

Response: This bill clarifies the Flores Settlement and ensures that children who entered with their parents and are in the care and custody of the Department of Homeland Security, are not presumed to be releasable. This keeps families together if they are in DHS custody or if they are released from custody, whichever is appropriate in the discretion of the Department of Homeland Security.

10. Charge: The elimination of certain family preference visa categories is anti-family.

Response: The bill preserves preferences for unification of the nuclear family. The bill also seeks to provide more balance to our immigration system. Currently, less than 15% of the green cards we issue on an annual basis go to people based on the needs of U.S. employers and our economy. No other country’s immigration system works this way. This legislation shifts some visas currently available for married children of U.S. citizens and siblings of adult U.S. citizens to merit and employment based visa categories.

 

Polls

Amnesty advocates rely on business-funded “Nation of Immigrants” push-polls to show apparent voter support for immigration and immigrants.

But “choice” polls reveal most voters’ often-ignored preference that CEOs should hire Americans at decent wages before hiring migrants. Those Americans include many blue-collar Blacks, Latinos, and people who hide their opinions from pollsters. Similarly, the 2018 polls show that GOP voters are far more concerned about migration — more properly, the economics of migration — than they are concerned about illegal migration and MS-13, taxes, or the return of Rep. Nancy Pelosi.

Economics 

Currently, four million Americans turn 18 each year and begin looking for good jobs in the free market — but the government provides green cards to roughly 1 million legal immigrants and temporary work-permits to roughly 3 million foreign workers.

The Washington-imposed economic policy of economic growth via mass-immigration shifts wealth from young people towards older people by flooding the market with foreign labor. That process spikes profits and Wall Street values by cutting salaries for manual and skilled labor offered by blue-collar and white-collar employees. The policy also drives up real estate prices, widens wealth-gaps, reduces high-tech investment, increases state and local tax burdens, hurts kids’ schools and college education, pushes Americans away from high-tech careers, and sidelines at least 5 million marginalized Americans and their families, including many who are now struggling with opioid addictions.