Can somebody explain to me what is new about what Walker said? Granted it is different than what he said behind closed doors a couple of weeks ago, but Cruz has consistently said from the beginning that we must enforce our current immigrattion laws and seal thweborder. What’s new?
>>Can somebody explain to me what is new about what Walker said?<<
Walker moved the conversation to “legal” immigration by raising the issue that legal immigration levels set by law should consider the impact on American wages. Given that both the Left and the Right are now contesting him, he’s obviously onto something.
The Left fears loss of an issue, income inequality, because curtailing legal immigration would be a market-based way of addressing low wages and the impact on income inequality.
The Right just plain wants more workers for employers, but it goes deeper than that. There’s a current of economic thinking that increasing the workforce increases GDP. While it might do that, it also depresses wages below what they would be otherwise. In fact, a highly-trained, and stable, workforce might increase GDP even faster than a larger workforce, given the chance. You also see their argument in the “we need more young workers to support retirees” sort of statement. There might be some truth in all this, but Walker wants to have the discussion. And don’t be surprised if a whole bunch of voters, even Independent and Democrat voters, want to have that same discussion. In fact, even Hispanics here legally and blacks who can’t find jobs might want to have it.
One additional factor: if you’re debating how much to restrict legal immigration, it goes without saying that illegal immigration has to be curtailed. That same debate will encompass determining how many of those already here illegally should be issued work permits and allowed to stay and how many should be returned to their home countries.
I don’t know how this position will work out for him, but he’s got all the right people upset, in my opinion, including the crony capitalists.
Cruz has been good on illegal immigration, but he’s terrible on legal immigration. Not only is he apparently fine with current mass legsl immigration, he wants to increase it even more. In other words, he supports a voter-importing program for Democrats.
Walker may or may not be sincere. It should be noted that he hasn’t actually called for a reduction in legal immigration. I wish he would, as that would make him the only GOP candidate pushing conservative immigration reform, but he hasn’t.
Supporting mass immigration, even if it’s all legal, is the same as supporting the demographic destruction of conservatism. In that, Cruz is just as bad as Bush, Rubio, or any Democrat.