Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), the intellectual leader of the conservative movement and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest, issued a statement on Sunday afternoon praising 2016 Republican frontrunner Donald Trump’s immigration policy plan for America.
“This is exactly the plan America needs,” Sessions said in response to Trump’s plan. “Not only would the plan outlined in this paper work, but more quickly than many realize.
“Most importantly, this plan reestablishes the principle that American’s immigration laws should serve the interests of its own citizens.
“For too long, ‘immigration reform’ plans in Washington have served the special interests at the expense of working Americans. By contrast, this plan puts the needs of working Americans foremost, and develops an effective strategy for improving their wages and job prospects.
“Crucially, this plan includes an emphasis on lifting struggling minority communities, including our immigrant communities, out of poverty — by preventing corporations from bringing in new workers from overseas to replace them and drive down wages.
“When the labor market is oversupplied, it tilts the balance of power away form workers and towards employers. In combination with a smart, fair trade policy this proposal would reinvigorate the middle class.
“Polling shows this plan will appeal broadly to all segments of the electorate: prioritizing the just demands of loyal, everyday Americans who have been shunned by a governing elite.”
Trump’s plan is designed to put American workers first, and calls for halting of green cards until Americans are employed again—and pushes for a significant slowdown in the issuance of donor-class-craved H-1B visas, which have been used by many companies like Disney and Southern California Edison among others to replace Americans with cheaper, foreign workers.
Trump consulted Sessions in putting together the plan, and now that he has the support of such an influential lawmaker who’s the key leader in Congress on this issue, it’s unlikely that anyone will ever be able to legitimately criticize him for lack of substance again.
Trump is currently the runaway Republican frontrunner, and as the months between now and voting slip away, predictions that he’d fall apart keep falling short.