Sen. David Vitter: 'Amnesty Now, Enforcement Later' Approach on Immigration 'Fatal Flaw'

Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), who plans to run for governor of Louisiana, said that the “amnesty now, enforcement later” approach of amnesty advocates is a “fatal flaw” that will not solve the country’s immigration problem.

Speaking at the second annual Uninvited II national security forum across the street from CPAC Thursday, Vitter said that none of his Senate colleagues believed that the temporary legal status that would be given to the country’s illegal immigrants would be revoked even if enforcement triggers were not met.

Yet those same senators voted for last year’s comprehensive immigration bill. He said his vote against the bill was at “the top of my list for this year” and was hopeful that amnesty opponents can “hold the line.”

Speaking at the forum that Breitbart News sponsored, Vitter said that the the amnesty legislation being proposed shows that Republicans have not learned from the 1986 immigration reform law that provided amnesty to three million illegal immigrants. After that legislation, Vitter said that the number of illegal immigrants quadrupled, but amnesty advocates keep promoting the same failed approach.

“If you have amnesty first, you are never going to have any leverage for any meaningful enforcement,” Vitter said.

Vitter also said that amnesty proponents “will say there are enforcement triggers,” but “that really falls apart” upon closer examination.

“The day that bill is signed into law, almost all of the eleven million illegals will have a new legal status,” he said. “It’s a temporary legal status, but it is a new legal status before any changes in enforcement take place.”