Fourteen GOP legislators lined up on Thursday to support Democrats’ demands that the 2018 budget also include a quick, no-strings amnesty for millions of illegals — but they were quickly slapped down by House Speaker Paul Ryan.
“I think it should be treated separately on its own merits,” Ryan countered in his Thursday press conference. “There is no need to have artificial deadlines,” he said, adding that his deputies are preparing an immigration proposal for consideration by caucus members.
The following Republicans called for the no-strings amnesty, as reported by the McClatchy Agency:
- Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA)
- Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL)
- Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX)
- Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI)
- Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE)
- Rep. Peter King (R-NY)
- Rep. Ryan Costello (R-PA)
- Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA)
- Rep. Leonard Lance (R-NJ)
- Rep. John Faso (R-NY)
- Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)
- Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL)
- Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-MN)
- Rep. Susan Brooks (R-IND)
The fourteen stood in agreement with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) that Congress should provide an amnesty for at least 690,000 “DACA” illegals who were previously covered by President Barack Obama’s Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Under the Democrats’ Dream Act, amnesty actually would be given to a broader group of three million illegal immigrants below the age of 40.
That Democrats’ act would give millions of illegals quick access to all federal financial aid — including Obamacare — and put them on a fast track to citizenship, after which they could vote for Democratic politicians and also use the chain-migration laws to bring in a legally unlimited number of Democratic-leaning relatives from their home countries. After the 1986 amnesty, newly naturalized Mexicans sponsored an average of six other Mexicans for citizenship, ensuring complete Democratic control of California.
In contrast, pro-American reformers want Congress to cut the huge annual inflow of immigrants, so forcing companies to pay higher wages and to buy productivity-boosting, high-wage machinery. That low-immigration, high-wage policy got New York real-estate developer Donald Trump elected in 2016 because it wins huge support from the public, according to many polls.
Schumer claims to have bipartisan support for his no-strings Dream Act amnesty this Christmas. “We think we’re going to have a number of our Republican colleagues join us,” Schumer said Wednesday. “There are a lot of Republicans who want to pass DACA as well. So I am very optimistic it will pass.”
These 14 Republicans were in agreement with Schumer, although without much enthusiasm, and only a handful stayed to receive questions from the Hill reporters.
Ros-Lehtinen reportedly said, “There’s a whole bunch of us that want to make this dream a reality.” Upton added, “We all respond by saying sí, right?”
According to the Associated Press:
Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., said at the Capitol Hill news conference that their remarks were meant to encourage Ryan and “maybe put a little pressure on him as well to come forward with that solution that a majority of Republicans can support” …
Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, predicted widespread backing in the 435-member House.
“When the bill comes to the floor, whatever bill it is, I predict it will have a huge vote. Well over 300 votes to send this bill to the Senate,” Barton said.
A huge influx of Latino Americans has converted Barton’s district into a white-minority district. Whites comprise only 45 percent of the voters in the district, while Latinos comprise 22 percent. Newhouse is a fruit-grower in his home state and has championed continued industry reliance on cheap migrant workers instead of fruit-picking machinery. His district is now one-quarter Latino and he won his 2014 election by 1.6 percent.
Upton is a liberal in the GOP caucus and only holds a C rating from the NumbersUSA immigration-reform group. Ros-Lehtinen is a Cuban immigrant who has long favored Latino immigration. She is retiring in 2018. Issa’s district is in California, and the rising level of Latino voters nearly defeated him in 2016.
None of the legislators discussed any safeguards or offsets, such as the construction of the wall, or ending chain migrati0n and the visa lottery, or implementing President Donald Trump’s immigration principles. They appeared prepared, as Schumer and the assembled pro-DACA protesters on Capitol Hill demanded, to tie a “clean” amnesty to an omnibus spending bill by the end of the year.
The pro-amnesty statement by the 13 legislators was issued just as a new poll showed declining public support for a DACA-style amnesty. The poll found fewer than 30 percent of American voters think “fixing” DACA is a priority while 68 percent support mandatory E-Verify, 53 percent prioritize stopping employers hiring illegal aliens, and 54 percent said they wanted to see overall legal immigration levels reduced.
Editor: This story has been updated to include Indiana Republican Rep. Susan Brooks.