Immigration patriots say a White House official’s statements that insinuated that President Trump’s administration favors amnesty for nearly 800,000 illegal aliens in exchange for tax cuts were “outrageous.”
As Breitbart News reported, Trump’s congressional relations aide Marc Short told reporters that he is not asking Democrats to exchange amnesty for the hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens covered by the Obama-created Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program for the legal immigration-cutting RAISE Act, E-Verify, or even border wall funding.
Instead, Short – who previously worked in the Republican establishment and headed an organization bankrolled by the pro-mass immigration billionaire Koch brothers – tied the massive amnesty deal to tax cuts.
“We are most interested in getting border security, and the president has made a commitment to the American people that he believes that a physical barrier is important to that equation of border security,” Short said.
“Whether or not that is part of a DACA equation or whether or not that’s another legislative vehicle, I don’t want to bind ourselves into a construct that makes reaching a conclusion on DACA impossible,” he said:
Rosemary Jenks, a spokeswoman with NumbersUSA, which advocates for cuts to legal immigration to relieve American workers, said the Short’s statements were “outrageous,” telling Breitbart News she hoped Short “did not have the blessing of the White House to say that.”
“If [Short] did not have the blessing of the White House, I hope someone has a talk with him,” Jenks said. “That’s not the position Trump took last Tuesday when he announced the ending of DACA.”
“It would be an outrageous selling-out of the base if that is [Trump’s] position right now,” Jenks said.
NumbersUSA President Roy Beck slammed Short’s comments in a statement where he said the deal to give into amnesty for illegal aliens without cuts to legal immigration or mandatory E-Verify “raised grave concerns.”
“Short’s compassion seems entirely for foreign citizens here illegally with not a nod for struggling American workers,” Beck said.
Center for Immigration Studies Mark Krikorian told Breitbart News that he was stunned to hear that Short, on behalf of the Trump administration, is so ready to give away amnesty for DACA recipients without any cuts or restrictions to legal immigration.
“I would’ve thought the president would at least hold out for some wall funding,” Krikorian said. “I didn’t imagine he would give it away for free, which seems to be the plan now.”
“They can’t repeal Obamacare, but they can pass amnesty? Even in a policy stance, it’s a mistake,” Krikorian continued. “Any amnesty creates two kinds of fallout: one is it attracts illegal immigration, and second is it creates a downstream legal immigration surge.”
Krikorian explained that should the Trump administration sign a clean DACA amnesty bill, it would legalize more than just the roughly 800,000 illegal aliens shielded by DACA, but also would create a surge at the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as a surge in legal immigration, where DACA recipients can now bring their foreign relatives to the U.S.
Short is the former president of the Koch brothers’ Freedom Partners organization, whose main priority is cutting taxes. As Breitbart News reported, the Koch brothers have lined up with the open borders lobby and corporate interests to demand amnesty for DACA recipients.
Jenks, though, said she was unsure whether Short’s giving in to amnesty was coming from his past with the Koch brothers or his past as part of the Republican establishment.
“I don’t have any idea whether it comes from the Kochs or Paul Ryan or the folks in the Senate who are falling all over each other to get amnesty passed,” Jenks said. “But it’s the swamp, and this is what Trump ran against and why he was elected. It’s like we entered a different universe, and I have no idea where it’s coming from. It certainly isn’t the position of the Trump base.”
DACA recipients currently hold upwards of 700,000 U.S. jobs. An ultimate end to the program – where DACA recipients are not given amnesty –would result in a 700,000 job stimulus for American workers. This would amount to nearly 30,000 new U.S. job openings for American workers every month once the program is officially phased out.
Though screening for DACA was previously touted as being sufficient in keeping criminals out, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) revealed that more than 2,100 recipients had their status revoked for being criminals or gang members.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.
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