Lead Republican Immigration Negotiator James Lankford’s Guiding Philosophy: ‘Love All Immigrants Equally’

Senate Republicans’ lead immigration negotiator, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), revealed Saturday that his guiding philosophy on the issue is to equally love legal immigrants and illegal aliens.

Lankford is currently leading negotiations on immigration in the Senate to strike a deal with Democrats who, along with most Republican lawmakers, hope to keep sending billions in American taxpayer dollars to Ukraine.

As Breitbart News reported, the Immigration Accountability Project revealed Thursday that Lankford’s reported immigration deal would, among other things:

• Increase overall legal immigration to the United States.
• Give work permits to the adult children of H-1B visa-holders.
• Expedited work permits for illegal aliens released from federal custody.
• Taxpayer-funded lawyers to certain Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs) and mentally incompetent illegal aliens.

Lankford, who spoke to the Wall Street Journal on Saturday, said his guiding philosophy on immigration is to love legal immigrants and illegal aliens, equally.

The Journal reported:

Asked about his guiding philosophy on immigration, Lankford recalled a conversation he had with a pastor in Oklahoma during the Trump administration. The pastor told Lankford that while it was the senator’s job to ensure that immigrants follow the law, it was the pastor’s job to love all immigrants equally regardless of their legal status. [Emphasis added]

“We have got to be able to do both those things,’” Lankford recalled the pastor saying. [Emphasis added]

On Saturday, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) shot down Lankford’s reported immigration deal, writing on Twitter, “Absolutely not” alongside a screenshot of the plan.

“There’s nothing in there that [restricts immigration], in fact, it’s just going to encourage more people to come,” Chris Chmielenski, president of the Immigration Accountability Project, told Breitbart News of Lankford’s deal.

“It essentially authorizes the Biden administration to continue to catch and release people into the country,” Chmielenski said. “It authorizes them to give them work permits [to illegal migrants and] authorizes them to grant parole [legal status] to everybody that they’re able to funnel to a port of entry.”

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.