Posted on 04/24/2015 5:04:36 PM PDT by ObamahatesPACoal
The most potent illustration that Republicans have shifted their attitudes on immigration came Tuesday morning when all GOP members of the Senate Judiciary Committee rejected an amendment from Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., to severely limit the number of legal immigrants allowed into the country.
The committee’s overwhelming ‘No’ vote shows that the battle for Republicans’ souls on immigration has shifted away from groups that want to reduce the influx of foreigners, like the Heritage Foundation, NumbersUSA, and Fairness for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), toward free-market groups that applaud increased immigration, such as Americans for Tax Reform and the CATO Institute.
(SNIP)
But it was a big surprise that those rejecting it included hard-core tea-party senators who are almost certain to vote against the immigration bill--Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Mike Lee, R-Utah, John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.
Lobbyists were buzzing about the vote as the committee broke for lunch. "Can you believe it? That was amazing," said one lobbyist. "It was a smackdown. That was the defining moment," said another.
(SNIP)
Sessions found himself all alone in defending the argument that has been used most often by the scrappy grassroots groups NumbersUSA and FAIR. His amendment would have limited the total immigration to the United States to about 23 million over 10 years, not including the current undocumented population.
“We don’t want to invite people to America that can’t find work and go on welfare and on dependency,” he said.
Those same arguments held considerable sway in stopping the progress of similar immigration bills in 2006 and 2007. NumbersUSA and FAIR also managed to unseat several Republicans who embraced immigration reform, most notably the moderate Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah in 2008.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationaljournal.com ...
I've got news for National Journal: this has been the case for a long time.
Legal immigration, yes. Illegal immigration, no.
The Marxists get their voters and the Capitalists get their low wage workers. What could go wrong?/s
Jeff Sessions is the only major Republican politician in this country to take the necessary and, often times, the politically incorrect stance on immigration. At this point we have to stop all incoming immigration of all sorts to this country now.
Do you think legal immigration should be 30 million or 20 million over 10 years?
Yeah we cant or wont stop the illegal aliens so lets stop the immigrants...
in other words encourage the back robbers to steal don’t let the account owners withdraw any money...
Should we make it easy for unskilled Mexicans to be legal immigrants and then let that category of immigrant by virtually unlimited?
“Steve King and Jeff Sessions are right.”
I agree whole heartedly.
“The others are wrong.”
Yes, they were.
Let’s hope at least some of them are starting to catch on. In particular, I hope Cruz wakes up to the damage being done by massive legal immigration, just as Walker has apparently awakened. There’s a lot I like about Cruz but being a cheerleader for overrunning the country with more immigrants is not one of them.
You people need to come up with a more substantive issue if you want to gain any traction against Cruz. At this rate, not only are you showing your cards (we know who you are) but you’re wasting time and effort.
Made up issues don’t work against a candidate who is 100% substance.
Exactly—Walker is wrong on citizenship, Cruz is wrong on continuing to increase immigration at this point—and they are both wrong on legalization for illegals.
That’s the only knock so far against Cruz that I can think of, but it’s a big one. I still have plenty of time before I have to make a decision on which candidate to support.
We need a moratorium on legal immigration, too.
There are no industries crying out for labor and there are no frontiers to populate. What need do we have for immigrants, legal or otherwise?
New tagline ...
Yes.
Cruz is great but he of all people should understand...Cubans were legitimate refugees from Communism.
I have no idea what campesinos from Oaxaca are fleeing...themselves?
No one asked us if we want to become Mexico.
Think the outcome of prior wars with them proved we did not.
I see; so the current ILLEGALS are made LEGAL...
which solves "A PROBLEM".... kinda sorta.. it also sets a precedent..
to wit; three steps backward, one step forward....
Sessions competing with Forest Gump for genius..
I agree, legal immigration should be reduced.
In an effort to create a juxtaposition with illegal immigration, some people go too far in ennobling legal immigration.
Steve King over in the House has been just as steadfast in looking out for Americans as Jeff Sessions has been in the Senate. It’s a shame how few others there are.
as for me and my family, we’re going with sessions and king. i hope he/they start the USIP with exactly this platform. he needs to go around the GOP and take it to the people.
i don’t get why cruz and lee didn’t vote with sessions. i guess it was money. cruz is still on my short list however.
The traitors have been promised that there will be enough illegals legalized and citizenized by the 2016 elections so they won’t get booted out of office by real U. S. citizens.
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