House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) is at it again.
After sending a deceptive anti-amnesty mailer last week to voters, Cantor’s campaign sent out another this week just days before his June 10 primary against Dave Brat, who has been attacking Cantor on immigration. The new mailer touts the “conservative” Eric Cantor who is “stopping” the “Obama-Reid plan to give illegal aliens amnesty,” according to Politico. The mailer criticizes President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) for promoting amnesty that would “ignore the rule of law” and “reward people for illegal behavior.”
Yet that is exactly what Cantor has advocated, supporting amnesty for the children of illegal immigrants and DREAMers who enroll in the military.
In fact, Cantor even said giving citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants is part of one of the “great founding principles of our country.”
“One of the great founding principles of our country was that children would not be punished for the mistakes of their parents,” he said during his 2013 “Make Life Work” speech. “It is time to provide an opportunity for legal residence and citizenship for those who were brought to this country as children and who know no other home.”
That prompted United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) National Council President Kenneth Palinkas to note that if one of the “founding principles of our country” is “that children would not be punished for the mistakes of their parents,” then Congress would have to grant perpetual amnesty to illegal immigrant children.
After one of Cantor’s top allies was ousted from a key GOP chairmanship in his district last month, Cantor has been more aggressive in the weeks before his June 10 primary against Dave Brat. Meanwhile his pro-amnesty positions are nowhere to be found on his website or campaign literature, even though he has also praised the Chamber of Commerce and big labor for supporting amnesty legislation.
“I applaud the Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO for coming together to find common ground in an effort to reform our broken immigration system,” Cantor said.
In addition, Cantor’s actions spoke as loudly as his words last year when he went on a tour with Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), who is now conveniently attacking Cantor just days before Cantor’s primary, to promote amnesty legislation in New York.