Is Sen. Rubio’s Staff Misleading The Public On The Immigration Bill’s Contents?

The misinformation from Senator Marco Rubio‘s office regarding the Gang of 8′s immigration reform bill — regarding what the bill does and does not do — continues.

On Wednesday, Rich Lowry, editor of the National Review, sent Alex Conant, Rubio’s press secretary, a question via Twitter asking whether it was true that even those individuals who have been deported may qualify for legalization. Conant replied that it “only” applies if the deported individual has a child legally in the U.S. [pictured correspondence]

Here is what the bill actually states on this matter (as I noted in my column yesterday): Those who were previously deported are allowed to apply not only if they have children legally in the U.S., as Conant claims, but also if they have a spouse or a parent, legally in the U.S.

So why is Conant claiming it is “only” if the deported individual has a child here, and why is Conant refusing to address a correction request?

Meanwhile, Senator Rubio’s inaccurate and misleading press release yesterday (citing non-existent ‘triggers’ required for the process) remains on the senator’s website, as I wrote about yesterday here. The ‘six triggers’ myth seems to have originated with a Daily Caller piece by Matt Lewis. Rubio’s office apparently ran with that idea, making Lewis’s erroneous interpretation of the bill the center-point of their press release.

Now is a good time to clarify what exactly are the triggers. Here’s a quick guide:

First, it is inaccurate to discuss triggers in general. There are two, distinct stages: (1) the triggers for the first legalization (converting an undocumented immigrant into legal status, called the Registered Provisional Immigrant Status) and (2) the triggers needed for those individuals to later go from R.P.I. status to green card holders/permanent residents.

The first stage has no ‘triggers’ that must be met for the initial legalization because the only ‘trigger’ is that the strategies on border fencing and border security have simply ‘commenced.’

Nor does the second stage have any real triggers that must be met for the permanent residency (green card) process to kick off. It only requires (a) that the border plans be substantially deployed and substantially operational; (b) that E-Verify has merely been ‘implemented’; and (c) that an electronic exit system is being used at airports and sea ports.

So we only have 3 items that could even remotely be considered ‘triggers’ – and they only apply to green-lighting the permanent residency process ten years down the road (not to green-lighting initial legalization process).

Okay, well, let’s look at those three permanent residency requirements/’triggers,’ in order:

(a) Though Rubio yesterday mistakenly claimed in a video that the bill requires those border plans to be ‘fully’ implemented, as I noted here, the bill only requires ‘substantial’ implementation of those plans.

(b) E-Verify. As Daily Caller‘s Mickey Kaus noted in an article this morning, it is unlikely E-Verify (or the lack thereof) will play a role, as the requirement is easy to go around:Okay, well, let’s look at those three permanent residency requirements/’triggers,’ in order:

(b) E-Verify. As Daily Caller‘s Mickey Kaus noted in an article this morning, it is unlikely E-Verify (or the lack thereof) will play a role, as the requirement is easy to go around:

(c) As for the electronic exit visa system, one is already in place (and does not seem to have worked, clearly). Moreover, notice that the bill’s language does not read at “all” air and sea ports.

When will Senator Rubio’s staff either familiarize itself with the bill’s contents or stop disseminating inaccurate information to the American public?

UPDATE (April 18, 12:46 p.m. EST): Senator Rubio’s press secretary, Alex Conant, replied to our inquiry Thursday afternoon, requesting a comment on this Column. Conant now notes that the legalization of deported individuals is not limited to those with children legally in the U.S. (as his Tweet yesterday claimed).

While emphasizing the reunification of parents and children, Conant failed to add that the bill also allows deported individuals with spouses legally in the U.S. to apply for legalization — and is thus not limited to those with children or parents legally in the U.S.

UPDATE II (April 18, 4:06 p.m. EST): The misinformation by Senator Rubio’s staff continues. At 3:48 pm on Thursday afternoon, Cesar Conda, Senator Rubio’s Chief of Staff, Tweeted the following: [see link]

Senator Rubio made the same claim yesterday, in his YouTube video, as I noted in my column yesterday (see “Update” section, here). The false information persists, however.

This is what the relevant portion of the bill reads, regarding so-called ‘triggers’ for the green card/permanent residency process to proceed. Notice it reads “substantially” — not “fully,” as claimed by Rubio and his staff.

UPDATE III: (April 22, 7:23 p.m. EST) While Senator Rubio’s Press Secretary, Alex Conant, pushes the idea that the immigration bill is proceeding ‘despite President Obama, not because of him,’ in order to sell it to conservatives: [see link]

“I suspect this is what happened:

1) Rubio decided early-on that he would “reform” immigration, at any price. This is a pattern of RINOs where a final product, any final product, is better than delivering nothing (Bush junior did that with many, many, pieces of liberal legislation).

2) So Rubio has a plan, and the plan has some teeth in it and he gets to work with the Democrats to get his ideas into the final bill.

3) The Dems figure out that Rubio’s desperation, and decided that they will write the bill THEIR WAY.”

You were close up to there. The democrats didn’t write this bill. Grover Norquist and Cesar Conda, lobbyists along with the unions wrote this bill. Norquist admitted it. He wrote Bush’s amnesty.

This mess is ugly. The enemy is within.

I Have Seen Shameful Things (Must Read)
Red State ^ | April 22nd, 2013 at 04:30 AM | Erick Erickson
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3010890/posts

and

EXCLUSIVE — Secret Emails: Cato, Norquist, Rubio Use Boston Terror Attacks to Push Immigration...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3010671/posts

and

History repeats itself, and this time, we are the NATIVES! Who is Cesar Conda? (If you don’t know, you’ll never understand what has happened here)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3007546/posts

I received this email and would like people to consider this and if you think it can’t happen; it can.
The Peaceful Majority - A German View on Islam
A German’s View on Islam - worth reading. This may be the best
explanation of the Muslim terrorist situation. The author’s cited
references to past history are accurate and clear. Not long, easy to
understand, and well worth the read. The author of this email is Dr.
Emanuel Tanya, a well-known and well-respected psychiatrist.
A man, whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II, owned
a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German
people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude
toward fanaticism.

‘Very few people were true Nazis,’ he said, ‘but many enjoyed the
return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was
one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So,
the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we
knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the
world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a
concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.’

We are told again and again by ‘experts’ and ‘talking heads’ that Islam
is the religion of peace and that the vast majority of Muslims just
want to live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be
true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to
make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the specter of
fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam.

The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history.
It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of
50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically
slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are
gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is
the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honour-kill. It is the
fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who
zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and
homosexuals. It is the fanatics who teach their young to kill and to
become suicide bombers.

The hard, quantifiable fact is that the peaceful majority, the ‘silent
majority,’ is cowed and extraneous.
Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in
peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of
about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant..
China ‘s huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists
managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.

The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a
warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way
across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the
systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by
sword, shovel, and bayonet.

And who can forget Rwanda, which collapsed into butchery. Could it
not be said that the majority of Rwandans were ‘peace loving’?

History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our
powers of reason, we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of
points: Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence.
Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don’t speak up,
because like my friend from Germany , they will awaken one day and find
that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun..

Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs,
Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many
others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until
it was too late.
As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only
group that counts—the fanatics who threaten our way of life.

Lastly, anyone who doubts that the issue is serious and just deletes
this email without sending it on, is contributing to the passiveness
that allows the problems to expand. So, extend yourself a bit and
send this on and on and on!
Let us hope that thousands, world-wide, read this and think about it,
and send it on - before it’s too late.

Now Islamic prayers have been introduced into Toronto and other public
schools in Ontario, and, yes, in Ottawa too while the Lord’s Prayer was
removed (due to being so offensive?). The Islamic way may be peaceful
for the time being in our country until the fanatics move in. And we
are silent.....

Indeed, in our own country, fanatic liberalism is taking a similar path..

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