Rick Santorum accuses Ted Cruz of supporting �amnesty� for illegal immigrants

washington times ^ | 9/25/2015 | Seth McLaughlin

[BlackFemaleArmyColonel]

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum vowed Friday to pursue immigration policies that protect American workers, while warning voters that some of his GOP rivals have embraced a much softer approach to the issue. Mr. Santorum, the runner-up in the 2012 Republican nomination battle, urged the crowd that converged on a hotel in Washington, D.C., for the annual Values Voter Summit to recognize that a couple of the speakers before him — Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz — have previously supported “amnesty” for illegal immigrants. “You have a lot of people that come up here and talk about how tough they are, but they actually support amnesty. The speaker just before me running for president, he will tell you how tough he is,” Mr. Santorum said, alluding to Mr. Cruz. “He offered an amendment to allow people to stay in this country indefinitely. To me, that is amnesty.” Mr. Santorum has struggled to gain a foothold in national polling and is running near the back of the pack. With that as a backdrop, the 57-year-old has staked a lot in the immigration debate. He also has touted the conservative record he compiled in Congress, including authoring legislation aimed at changing the leadership of the Iranian government. Mr. Santorum served in the House from 1991 to 1995 and in the Senate from 1995 to 2007 when he lost his re-election bid to Democrat Bob Casey Jr. by a 59 percent to 41 percent margin.

[9YearLurker]

Trump since he announced, Trump has supported atouchback plan, which is disguised amnesty. But so is Cruz’s plan. Regardless of what his office has said to you, Cruz has never renounced his past publicly stated support for legalization—so he has disguised his amnesty as well.

Yet, those are the two best candidates we have.

[ConservingFreedom]

http://www.cis.org/LowSalariesforLowSkills-H1B

• Very few H-1B workers are "highly-skilled." Employers who used the Department of Labor’s skill-based prevailing wage system classified most workers (56 percent) as being at the lowest skill level (Level I) as did most State Employment Security Agency (SESA) wage determinations (57 percent). This suggests that most H-1B computer workers are low-skilled workers who make no special contribution to the American economy, or that employers are deliberately understating workers’ skills in order to justify paying them lower salaries.
• According to the applications filed in 2005, it appears that employers may be significantly understating what U.S. computer workers are earning in order to justify paying low wages to H-1B guestworkers in those occupations. In FY 2005, H-1B employer prevailing wage claims averaged $16,000 below the median wage for U.S. computer workers in the same location and occupation.
• 90 percent of H-1B employer prevailing wage claims for programming occupations were below the median U.S. wage for the same occupation and location, with 62 percent of the wage claims in the bottom 25th percentile of U.S. wages.
• While higher than the prevailing wage claims, the actual wages reported for H-1B workers were significantly less than those of their American counterparts. Wages for H-1B workers averaged $12,000 below the median wage for U.S. workers in the same occupation and location.
• The reported wages for 84 percent of H-1B workers were below the median U.S. wage; 51 percent were in the bottom 25th percentile of U.S. wages.
• Many employers make prevailing wage claims using wage sources that are not valid under the law. The Department of Labor routinely approves prevailing wage claims based on these invalid sources.

I never processed an H1B for an hourly wage earner.

The CIS seems to use "wage" as basically synonymous with "salary" - odd, I agree, but not enough to dismiss the substance of their facts.

Wages and Salary are two very different types of payrolls.

As I have already acknowledged - but they are both payrolls, so as I said, their nonstandard usage is not enough to dismiss the substance of the CIS' facts.

as an engineer; project engineer, linear engineer, you make a whole lot more than $16,000.

The $16,000 is a salary DIFFERENCE - you need to take a few minutes and read.

If we're supposed to disbelieve the Center for Immigration Studies because they (sometimes) use "wage" to mean "salary", should we not by the same token disbelieve you because you can't distinguish between a salary difference and a salary?

[brothers4thID]

I linked Santorum’s voting record...somewhere on this thread.

[ConservingFreedom]

Ideally, we want a President who will veto bad bills and sign good bills, not try to impose his will on the legislative branch. Seperation of powers is a good thing, remember.

Separation of powers ensures that a president can't impose his will - but it doesn't rule out proposals nor bully pulpiting on matters large and small as Reagan successfully did in the face of the congressional Dums and RINOs of his day. That's exactly what we need today ... not merely reactive sign/veto.

[brothers4thID]

So, again, read the rest of my post: Presidents influence on big picture items. Their influence on line items is significantly less.

Think of it another way: say Cruz is wrong in his support of H1B visas. Would you rather an elected representative of the people educate him.... Or some unelected staffer with questionable loyalties?

[ConservingFreedom]

say Cruz is wrong in his support of H1B visas. Would you rather an elected representative of the people educate him.... Or some unelected staffer with questionable loyalties?

Until he' so educated, by whoever, he doesn't get my active support nor very possibly my vote (perhaps, under the right circumstances, and then with nose held).

[FreeReign]

But so is Cruz’s plan. Regardless of what his office has said to you...

You're claiming that Cruz has a current plan that has a "legalization amnesty"??

Link?

Last I've seen Cruz comment on the subject was in January 2014 when Cruz changed his tune from 2013 and called the House's plan, which was a legalization without citizenship bill, an amnesty and he said that he was against it.

Cruz: GOP immigration plan is 'amnesty'

[CyberAnt]

And .. you continue to peddle the same CRAP.

Goodbye ..

[Sun]

Santorum AND Cruz are my top two favorites right now.

However, Santorum is the ONLY candidate to receive an “A” rating from Numbers USA.

[Jewbacca]

Ricky is a pathetic liar.

He is in the race to hurt Cruz.

[brothers4thID]

Sadly, they last a long time.

[brothers4thID]

“As the President it is my job to enforce the law. The law says that if you are here illegally you must be deported. I intend to fully enforce that law.”

[brothers4thID]

Some anti-Cruz trolls would like to believe anything bad they can about Cruz, ignoring the evidence presented by the Congressional Record, Senator Sessions, Senator Lee, and Senator Cruz himself.

[demshateGod]

Well, you thought wrong and you think wrong.

[JoSixChip]

that’s right little Rickie you pathetic bitch boy.....Cruz is really the problem on immigration. What a morose unhappy untalented loser.

Say what you want about Rickie, but he is no lier.

[RKBA Democrat]

Cruz vs Santorum: the used car dealer smackdown.

[RKBA Democrat]

Really? I’ve been accused of being an anti-Cruz troll several times. Yet here I am.

Sweater boi versus St. Raphael of TPA. The shyster smackdown.

[conservativejoy]

Cruz has not supported any increase in H1-B for months. This is Cruz and Sessions most recent legislation to address the problem.

Link to Breitbart

[right way right]

Happy New Year and Congratulations.

[CA Conservative]

Not anti-Cruz troll, but still have concerns on many issues, including his vote on Iran

So you must also be very concerned about Trump being the only GOP candidate to pledge to keep the Iran deal in place. All of the other candidates have said they will tear the agreement up and reimpose sanctions since the agreement was never approved by Congress.