Boehner and House Republicans Aim to Pass Immigration Bill by Summer

Speaker of the House John Boehner, speaking to a group of donors at a Republican Party fundraiser last month, pledged that the House would pass several immigration bills this summer. Several attendees at the fundraiser told the Wall Street Journal’s Laura Meckler that Boehner said he was “hellbent on getting this done this year.”

One of Boehner’s House colleagues, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), who is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said during a recent trip to Silicon Valley that legislative action this year was “entirely possible,” with the House likely voting this summer on five to seven immigration bills. Carl Guardino, chief executive of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, which hosted Goodlatte’s visit, related the congressman’s statement to the Journal.

On April 18, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) issued a statement expressing his apprehension about a possible House immigration vote. After noting that President Obama and congressional Democrats have “put their collective weight behind an immigration bill that delivers a sweeping amnesty for open borders groups and a huge guest worker surge for corporations,” Sessions observed that — according to the Wall Street Journal report — “House GOP leaders are considering a plan to move an apparently similar immigration plan this summer.”

Sessions warned that the move that the House Republican leadership seems intent on taking would be bad on several counts. The first of these is political: Since public trust in President Obama is at a record low, holding a vote on the type of immigrations bills likely to be introduced would amount to a reversal of the position the GOP took before the primary season. Such an about face would “represent a colossal breach of the public trust,” maintained the senator, because American workers count on Republicans to protect their jobs from guest workers and illegal immigrants.

From Wikipedia:

The United States requires that an individual go in person to a U.S. embassy or consulate outside the U.S. and sign before a consular officer an oath or affirmation that he intends to renounce his citizenship, although exceptions are legally permitted in times of war and under special circumstances.[21][22] During the expatriation procedure, the individual must complete several documents and demonstrate in an interview with a consular officer that the renunciation is voluntary and intentional.

A good bill - modernizing legal immigration and doing nothing else would be an excellent step. I doubt that this is what they are talking about.

A good bill - providing vigorous enforcement of existing laws and doing nothing else would be an appealing though useless step. I doubt that Obama would follow the law even if the House passed another “and we really mean it” bill.

Otherwise, there is no point in new immigration laws while we have a lawless administration that will cherry pick the parts they like and ignore the rule of law otherwise.

An open letter to the GOP Members of Congress

As a Representative or Senator in Congress, you took this Oath:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God."

"Support and defend the Constitution" it says. Did you see that? That document requires, per Art.4, S.4, that

"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence."

An invasion is what we are suffering. That invasion has accelerated with each "comprehensive immigration reform" previously enacted. Instead of another disastrous reform that yet again increases the incentives for millions more to try their luck crossing the southern border, a Representative who took his Oath and the Constitution seriously would be pressing for what the American people have repeatedly said they want - not what Senators Schumer and McCain, Mark Zuckerberg, Mexico, some border state farmers and homebuilders or the Chamber of Commerce rent-seekers want. That is:

secure the border in a transparently verifiable way;
end the anchor-baby interpretation of the 14th Amendment;
enforce eVerify without exception and with severe penalties;
no government benefits beyond critical emergency care (and that ought to be billed back to the home government); and
NO "Path to Citizenship" - EVER - for anyone who has entered the US illegally.

Any bill that does not accomplish these five things is unacceptable. It is de facto amnesty. And it will inevitably encourage millions more illegal entries.

If the GOP is complicit in this amnesty fiasco, either by taking up the Senate bill or through some piecemeal slight of hand with a series of House bills such as we hear are being cooked up of late, or as riders on other necessary legislation, the GOP will cease to exist. It will not survive through the 2016 elections. The people will shun the over-tanned, glad-handing, backslapping quislings and look elsewhere for leaders who actually have the spine for the fight. Make no mistake - to me and to many, many others, amnesty is the GOP's Rubicon. Cross it at your electoral peril.

Rand Paul's immigration speech
...The Republican Party must embrace more legal immigration.

Unfortunately, like many of the major debates in Washington, immigration has become a stalemate-where both sides are imprisoned by their own rhetoric or attachment to sacred cows that prevent the possibility of a balanced solution.

Immigration Reform will not occur until Conservative Republicans, like myself, become part of the solution. I am here today to begin that conversation.

Let's start that conversation by acknowledging we aren't going to deport 12 million illegal immigrants.

If you wish to work, if you wish to live and work in America, then we will find a place for you...

This is where prudence, compassion and thrift all point us toward the same goal: bringing these workers out of the shadows and into being taxpaying members of society.

Imagine 12 million people who are already here coming out of the shadows to become new taxpayers.12 million more people assimilating into society. 12 million more people being productive contributors.
[Posted on 03/19/2013 7:04:07 AM PDT by Perdogg]
Rand Paul calls on conservatives to embrace immigration reform
Latinos, should be a natural constituency for the party, Paul argued, but "Republicans have pushed them away with harsh rhetoric over immigration." ...he would create a bipartisan panel to determine how many visas should be granted for workers already in the United States and those who might follow... [and the buried lead] "Imagine 12 million people who are already here coming out of the shadows to become new taxpayers...
[Posted on 04/21/2013 1:52:42 PM PDT by SoConPubbie]
[but he's not in favor of amnesty, snicker, definition of is is]

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