Republicans should press for enforcement as a standalone proposal, not as part of a wider immigration compromise. Once that enforcement is in place, then we can open the discussion about broader subsequent reforms. ...We don’t expect Donald Trump to grasp these subtleties. But there are 16 other candidates in the race, and one of them ought to try getting this right.
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That’s been Cruz’s position since Day 1. Cruz says that Congress promised Reagan to secure the border in exchange for amnesty— but that never happened. Cruz says before any further discussions, Congress must first make good on its promise.
Cruz Tries to Claim the Middle Ground on Immigration
Immigration-reform legislation from the Senate’s so-called Gang of Eight passed that chamber in June and includes a 13-year path to citizenship. Mr. Cruz pushed unsuccessfully for amendments that would have, among other things, eliminated the citizenship component. Asked about what to do with the people here illegally, however, he stressed that he had never tried to undo the goal of allowing them to stay.
“The amendment that I introduced removed the path to citizenship, but it did not change the underlying work permit from the Gang of Eight,” he said during a recent visit to El Paso. Mr. Cruz also noted that he had not called for deportation or, as Mitt Romney famously advocated, self-deportation.
Mr. Cruz said recent polling indicated that people outside Washington support some reform, including legal status without citizenship. He said he was against naturalization because it rewarded lawbreakers and was unfair to legal immigrants. It also perpetuates illegal crossings, he added.
Besides barring citizenship while instituting some level of legalization for those here already, Mr. Cruz has proposed increasing the number of green cards awarded annually, to 1.35 million from 675,000. He also wants to eliminate the per-country limit that he said left applicants from countries like Mexico, China and India hamstrung when they tried to gain legal entry to this country.
But that really strikes me as a dangerous cop out. I want to know what these people have planned after they declare the border "secured." They have to have an idea. Why exactly do I want to give my vote to a bunch of scumbags who will "enforce the border," and then immediately turn around and say "Oh, well, deporting them all is impossible. So let's make them legal!"
Trump makes it real clear what is going to happen to these people after enforcing the border. People criticize him for stating that there will be a legal process to bring some of these people we deport back in-- but I see that as a compromise for the inevitable sob story that comes out about the 12 year old with straight As who came in as a Baby. But the fact that Trump is talking about 100 percent deportation AND a legal process so we can vet these people, to see if they are really going to be people we might want back, is better than NOT knowing what Cruz or the rest plan to do later.
Ultimately the only person 100 percent perfect on immigration is Ann Coulter. I suspect that Trump feels the same way and that the legal process in the end will take into account our nation's best interests, not the best interest's of the person involved. Nevertheless, even the worst case scenario is better.