Aaron Schock, Other IL Republicans Push Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Embattled Republican Congressman Aaron Schock and four other Illinois Republicans are again making the call for “comprehensive” immigration reform saying that an amnesty-like “path to citizenship” is the only way forward.

Speaking before a business group in Illinois that favors amnesty, Schock urged voters to put pressure on Republicans to join with Obama in pushing comprehensive immigration reform.

“It’s naive to think that the 11 to 12 million people are going to disappear,” Schock said to the Illinois Business Immigration Coalition on Monday.

In the last several months, Rep. Schock has been accused of corruption and come under increasing pressure due to his high living on the taxpayer’s dime and has had to issue a series of apologies and repayments for flights, concerts, office redecorating, and other expenses that he once charged to the taxpayer to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars.

Voices on both sides of the political spectrum are now calling for his ouster from Congress. Liberal Salon.com proclaimed Schock “toast” and noted that news only continues to get worse for him. Even the conservative National Review recently called on Schock to resign.

At the immigration forum, Schock was joined in his call for reform and a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants by Republicans Rep. Adam Kinzinger and Bob Dold, as well as Senator Mark Kirk and Illinois’s new Governor Bruce Rauner.

In his comments, Senator Kirk—a long-time advocate for amnesty—called for reform to let illegal immigrants “come out of the shadows.”

“Comprehensive immigration reform is imperative to ensuring the 525,000 people in Illinois can come out of the shadows, put down permanent roots and invest in Illinois,” Kirk said. “The way to base their rights and privileges is to lock them in with an actual statute that respects them as future Americans and allows them to keep families together permanently.”

In the recent past, the state’s new governor came out in support of Obama’s executive action on amnesty, saying it was a “great start” to “get a dialog going” on the immigration issue.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.