PRO and CON
Should Republicans support immigration reform?
PRO
“There’s a consensus that the system is broken and I’m seeing more and more a desire to fix it.”
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla.
CON
“House Republicans … should reply to the president’s immigration campaign with a simple message: Our focus is to help unemployed Americans get back to work, not to grant amnesty or to answer the whims of immigration activists and CEOs.”
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.
House Republican leaders poised to revive efforts to overhaul the immigration system with new broad policy principles are facing a direct challenge from a GOP senator who is warning against a headlong rush toward reform.
Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, delivered a 30-page package to all 232 House Republicans on Wednesday that offers a point-by-point rebuttal to the expected standards that House Speaker John Boehner and other leaders plan to circulate today among GOP members at their annual retreat.
Sessions warned of the negative impact of proposed changes to immigration policy on U.S. workers, taxpayers and the rule of law as the House leaders look at legalization for some of the 11 million immigrants living here illegally. Sessions and other opponents argue that legal status and work authorization amounts to amnesty for lawbreakers.
The GOP starting point is a statement of principles that is expected to focus on border and interior security, legalization with the requirement that immigrants pay fines and back taxes, and ensuring that President Barack Obama enforces the law, according to lawmakers, congressional aides and outside advocates, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to publicly discuss the principles being drafted.
Republican leaders plan to circulate the principles today at the GOP caucus’ retreat in Cambridge, Md.
Responding to Obama’s renewed call for immigration legislation and the positive signals from House GOP leaders, Sessions said Republicans “must end the lawlessness — not surrender to it — and they must defend the legitimate interests of millions of struggling American workers.”
Separately, several lawmakers are working on legislation dealing with children of parents in the United States illegally and visas for guest workers.
Republicans insist that the party must pass reforms to be competitive in presidential elections. In 2012, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who suggested that immigrants “self-deport,” won just 27 percent of the Hispanic vote.
“It’s no secret we have millions of people who are here, who are unlawful and we can’t deny that and I think that’s something that has to be dealt with,” said Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., who has been working on legislation, “but lot of components have to be dealt with.”
The Senate last year passed a comprehensive, bipartisan bill that addressed border security, provided enforcement measures and offered a path to citizenship for those living here illegally. The measure stalled in the GOP-led House, where leaders want to take a more piecemeal approach.
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