[Gaffer]

His most recent remarks about “high standard” do not give me the comfortable feeling that he won’t find some way to explain away why he may eventually give citizenship (even in some supposedly tortuous path of hurdles to be met).

The fact that he won’t say “no citizenship for illegals - ever” is extremely telling to me.

[kabar]

“The next president and the next Congress need to make decisions about a legal immigration system that’s based on, first and foremost, on protecting American workers and American wages… The more I’ve talked to folks—I’ve talked to Senator Sessions and others out there, but it is a fundamentally lost issue by many in elected positions today—is what is this doing for American workers looking for jobs, what is this doing to wages, and we need to have that be at the forefront of our discussion going forward.”

This is the most encouraging statement. Only Santorum and Walker are talking about limiting or reducing legal immigration. Why are we bringing in 1.1 million legal permanent immigrants annually (1.24 million in 2015) when we have the lowest labor participation rates in 38 years. Immigrants use the welfare system to a much greater degree than the native born. We are importing poverty and changing the demographics of this country forever. Since 1990 over 30 million legal permanent immigrants have entered this country.

I like the fact that he is talking with Jeff Sessions on this issue.