Posted on 01/29/2018 10:35:49 AM PST by iowamark
The White House today released four principles for immigration reform. Overall, the Trump plan would cut legal immigration and spend about $25 billion on border security and a wall. In exchange, the Trump administration has decided to support an amnesty and citizenship for an estimated 1.8 million DREAMers.
It’s unclear how the administration estimates that only 1.8 million illegal immigrant DREAMers would gain citizenship as the number could be very different from that. Most likely, they assume that many people could have earned DACA but did not.
The conservative reaction to Trump’s support for amnesty and citizenship, even though he’s always said that he could accept such a compromise, has been swift. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) preempted the rollout of Trump’s principles by stating, “I do not believe we should be granting a path to citizenship to anybody here illegally … Doing so is inconsistent with the promises we made to the men and women who elected us.” Cruz’s sentiment is consistent with his position during the 2013 debate over S. 744 where he favored a legalization but not an amnesty and path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.
Senator Cruz employed even more cruel rhetoric when he said, “For some reason that [amnesty] to me is utterly inexplicable, we see Republicans falling all over themselves to gallop to the left of [former President] Obama in a way that is contrary to the promises made to the voters who elected us.” Any comparison of President Trump to former-President Obama by a Republican is evidence that Trump’s amnesty plan will not be well received.
Representative Steve King (R-IA) has repeatedly said that he won’t vote for amnesty. Although he hasn’t spoken about Trump’s amnesty proposal, we can safely assume that the conservative Iowa congressman, who is nothing if not consistent, is a hard “no.” Virginia Republican gadfly and proud Trump-supporter Corey Stewart trashed Trump’s amnesty. Republican primary challengers from Mississippi to Nevada are furious at the betrayal.
Amnesty is a toxic word among conservative immigration restrictionists. They spent 25 years calling every proposal they disliked “amnesty” and mobilizing large numbers of people to oppose them. The extent to which the conservative media describes President Trump’s immigration plan as amnesty will determine how unpopular it is. The media outlet Breitbart labeled President Trump “amnesty Don” after they heard he would be supporting amnesty and a path to citizenship for DREAMers. When the plan was released they called it “Don’s Amnesty Bonanza” and compared it to other “failed” amnesties. The Washington Times headline is “Trump amnesty to cover 1.8 million Dreamers; triple Obama’s DACA,” – comparing Trump to Obama is toxic to the president’s base. The story goes on to describe the amnesty as “generous.” The Drudge Report’s Twitter account led with “Triple Obama’s DACA.”
Heritage Action, the Heritage Foundation’s political outreach arm, condemned President Trump’s amnesty as harshly as it could in order to maintain its ties to the administration. Heritage Action’s press release called President Trump’s plan an amnesty, said amnesties always grow in size and scope, and then raised concerned about the Gang of Eight 2013 S. 744 immigration reform bill. The Federation for American Immigration Reform is emphasizing its anti-amnesty stance to appeal to their supporters. Daniel Horowitz, Senior Editor of conservativereview.com called it a “@#$% hole of an amnesty.” Last, Mark Krikorian of the nativist Center for Immigration Studies fiercely criticized the Four Pillars in a post at National Review Online calling it “The Art of the Choke.” That last piece is most significant as Krikorian was long rumored to be the Trump immigration whisperer.
Worse than the media outlet and politicians, twitter commentators are going wild in opposition and fury at President Trump’s support for amnesty. Interestingly, so are a lot of groups that represent DREAMers. Check out this strongly worded press release to Four Pillars put out by United We Dream. That is a big loss as the expanded amnesty portion of the Trump Four Pillars was meant to appeal to them. If the DREAMer groups aren’t on board and the conservative base and media are opposed, Democrats will be emboldened to oppose this.
The amnesty portion of Trump’s plan is better than many other Republican options but the cuts in legal immigration are too great. We’ve suggested other workarounds that won’t cut legal immigration that both the administration and Congress should consider. At this stage, President Trump’s amnesty plan appears to be dead on arrival among his base, conservative Republicans, in the right-wing media, and DREAMers. The best thing that may come from this is that it undercut the Goodlatte bill.
My take as well.
I think Trump has all these fools chasing their tails.
25 billion wall for 1 trillion for illegals... what art of a deal... smh
There is no “plan.” It was simply a tactic by Trump to box the Dems in. Even if it is an actual plan, it will not pass the House. Sheesh.
Rope a dope works again.
Exactly! Trump knows the Dems won’t take the deal even though it’s generous Deal! He’s being the diplomatic one and they’re being the obstinate ones. Boxed them in
- Get the wall funded and under construction.
- End visa lottery.
- Severely curtail legal immigration for three years.
- Suspend chain immigration for three years with exceptions.
- Require E-verify.
- Step up deportations for anyone overstaying their visa.
- For children brought here illegally, grant them legal resident status but with a provision they must apply for and obtain citizenship withing 2 years.
I want amnesty conditioned on a proposed Constitutional amendment being sent to the states for ratification that repeals the “anchor baby” clause of Amendment XIV.
“For children brought here illegally, grant them legal resident status but with a provision they must apply for and obtain citizenship withing 2 years.”
Trump’s 10-12 year path is long enough that a sizable percentage (~35%) might become taxpayers and Republicans.
Young people are absolutely the worst choice for an amnesty, about 80% will be leftist come 2020.
Obama singled out young illegals for his DACA plan to win the highest percentage of new voters likely to vote Democratic.
Alex Nowrasteh is a Cato amnesty hack who has a record of using false data, history and polls to support amnesty at any cost.
If you ever dealt with him, you find he is also not very bright.
Truth is a stranger in almost anything he puts out.
a direct link to the WH press release
That is all true, but it was both parties that created the mess. The practical reality is you don’t have much choice. You are not going to get what you want and will get far less than you want if you are not willing to compromise on this one.
What are your feelings on the list of conditions I put up? Any that you would add, delete, modify. Thanks.
“Pro illegal Cato weighs in.”
‘libertarians’ accused of patriotism but proved Not Guilty.
“Greisa Martinez Rosas, Advocacy Director for United We Dream and potential beneficiary of the Dream Act, said:”
“Let’s call this proposal for what it is: a white supremacist ransom note.”
https://unitedwedream.org/2018/01/immigrant-youth-trumps-white-supremacist-proposal-no/
“I want amnesty conditioned on a proposed Constitutional amendment being sent to the states for ratification that repeals the “anchor baby” clause of Amendment XIV.”
Not necessary.
Section 5 of the 14th Amendment gives Congress the power to declare that anchor babies are not what is stated in Section 1.
Section 5.
The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
My Rough draft for a Proposed IMMIGRATION AMNESTY and REFORM ACT of 2018
https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3626322/posts
“The practical reality is you don’t have much choice. You are not going to get what you want and will get far less than you want if you are not willing to compromise on this one.”
Republicans have the choice. And with the Constitution requirement to count every inhabitant in 2020, we have the Constitutional power and access needed for near 100% deportation.
I’m for compromise and know the value of compromise, but understand well who is illegal and that lots of illegals can be deported before January 20th, 2021.
I want the “anchor baby” clause out of the Constitution.
I want tax caps in the Constitution.
“Not necessary.
“Section 5 of the 14th Amendment gives Congress the power to declare that anchor babies are not what is stated in Section 1.”
I want it removed - so a Democratic Congress can’t easily restore it.
My proposal doesn’t block absolute Democratic control of the US government.
“Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside...nor shall any State...deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
....
Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article”
The debacle of the Defense of Marriage Act proves Constitution repeal of the “anchor baby” clause is the only effective course of action.
You mention Republicans. That makes my point you will not get all you want. The Republicans are not on board with all you and I would like to see.
- Get the wall funded and under construction.
A wall by itself doesn’t beat a ladder and a rope, a bulldozer or dinamita
- End visa lottery.
I expect it to resurface in a few years
- Severely curtail legal immigration for three years.
Nearly meaningless since the backlog is substantial
- Suspend chain immigration for three years with exceptions.
Nearly meaningless since the backlog is substantial
- Require E-verify.
E-verify can easily be defeated by using subcontractors and information from nearly identical looking people
E-verify with consumer assisted DHS cross checking might work quite well
- Step up deportations for anyone overstaying their visa
Trump is probably already doing that
- For children brought here illegally, grant them legal resident status but with a provision they must apply for and obtain citizenship withing 2 years
Let’s pick the illegals most likely to vote Democratic and force them to become voting eligible quickly
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