Why Conservatives Praise Bernie Sanders on Immigration

Time ^ | Jan. 7, 2016 | Sam Frizell

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Also this summer, King compared Sanders with Republican candidate Donald Trump, saying they’re "both speaking with non-politically correct language, and Bernie has taken some positions that I agree with. And part of his immigration policy is something that I agree with."

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But the praise is not accidental. Sanders' opposition to the 2007 immigration reform bill and his rhetoric about the effect of immigrant labor on American workers have dismayed immigration activists and liberal allies in the past. He has expressed concern repeatedly over the years that guest workers in the United States depress wages and squeeze Americans out of their jobs.

Sanders opposed comprehensive immigration reform in 2007 on the grounds that it would expand the number of guest workers in the United States. It included a measure that would allow 200,000 guest workers to stay in the country for two years on temporary visas. The bill was widely supported by immigrant rights groups and would have put the undocumented on a path to citizenship.

"If poverty is increasing and if wages are going down, I don’t know why we need millions of people to be coming into this country as guest workers who will work for lower wages than American workers and drive waged down even lower than they are now," Sanders said in a television interview in June 2007.

Joining Sanders in opposing the 2007 bill was the AFL-CIO, the largest coalition of labor unions in the country—as well as staunchly conservative members of Congress like King and advocates like Beck.

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I will say that if the ability to make a lot money was a factor in who I would vote for, Koch's story is a lot more compelling than any of the billionaires currently running for president.

But with that being said, I do think that Koch is making a huge mistake by choosing to ignore the primaries and focus the efforts of Freedom Partners and Americans for Prosperity on the general election.