This is good stuff from Dan Henniger at the Journal: Indeed the proprietor of this column was released from the burn ward just days ago after arguing last week in this space that some 12 million illegal workers employed by seven or eight U.S. industries across numerous states was an Read more…
I am alarmed that serious people like Rob Bluey are touting the arguments of economic neanderthals like Lou Dobbs. Rob, you want some protectionism with that?
There was a very important letter published in the Dallas Morning News about immigration. It was signed by a number of leading Republicans. Let’s look at some text: This is the most far-reaching and thoughtful reform of our immigration system in four decades and one that will significantly enhance American Read more…
Tasty quotes, full release after the jump:
In 2006 Governor Romney supported the President’s immigration policy as well as the McCain-Kennedy bill. He expressed support for an immigration program that places large numbers of illegal residents on the path toward citizenship and said illegal immigrants should have a chance to obtain citizenship.
He even went as far as to say that Republicans that break from the President on this issue are making a "big mistake" according to the Associated Press.
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Governor Romney has a long history of flip-flops on issues from abortion, to gun control, to gay rights. This pattern of shifting positions should concern Iowa conservatives who are dedicated to securing our border and solving the illegal immigration crisis.
One wonders whether Mitt Romney’s flip-flops on immigration are going to create problems with conservatives on immigration. Ultimately, the issue is trust, much more than the issues, as much. Poll after poll have revealed that conservatives agree with what’s in the bill, but they don’t trust the elites. Why would someone who panders to them be more trustworthy?
While I am a supporter of immigration in general and some sort of comprehensive immigration proposal, I am not yet decided on this immigration bill. Earlier, I pointed to a place where business is unhappy with the current bill. Today, the NYT reports one place where these problems are becoming Read more…
This time Mitt Romney is misrepresenting Jeb Bush’s record, and his own, as he continues to struggle both the substance and appearance of his pandering flip-flop on immigration.
So these days, Mitt Romney is claiming that he has a strong record because he cut a deal but never implemented an agreement to allow state police to enforce federal immigration laws. He is making completely incorrect comparisons to efforts done by the (re-elected and popular) Jeb Bush in Florida:
“I deputized, as did Governor Bush here, my state police to be able to enforce immigration laws.
Except that that’s not really what Bush did. From a June 2002 AP article which is quoted in full after the jump, what Bush did was train counter-terrorism officers on federal immigration law and allow them to enforce that law as part of counter-terrorism:
"It’s targeted only to terrorist investigations — not checking green cards and work camps," FDLE Commissioner Tim Moore said Thursday.
In fact, Bush explicitly didn’t want the Florida police to do more general immigration checking:
"I would have a lot of trepidation if … every police officer was going to be a sworn INS officer and our duties end up with local law enforcement becoming the immigration cops of the country," Bush said.
So Romney seems to be confusing Jeb Bush’s actual attempts to use immigration laws to protect us against terrorists with Romney’s media preening about illegals.
Romney’s claim about "deputizing … state police" is, strictly speaking, also false. The agreement that Romney had with the feds required 4.5 weeks of training. When Romney announced it in December, Deval Patrick had already said he would end the program. Indeed, Patrick did end the program, about 4.5 weeks later. In other words, not a single state police official was ever authorized to carry out the arrest of illegals on federal immigration violations. The state police never could have caught those illegal Guatemalans on his lawn. Here’s what actually happened:
Then Governor Mitt Romney signed the 15-page agreement with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Dec. 13 that would have allowed specially deputized state troopers to arrest suspected illegal immigrants and charge them with violating US immigration laws.
During his campaign, Patrick called the plan a ?gimmick? and told reporters on Dec. 21 that he would quash the agreement shortly after taking office. About 30 troopers had been scheduled to take a five-week training course early next year.
So Romney’s great immigration accomplishment is that he signed an agreement to allow a training class that never happened.
Full article after the jump
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Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell had some thoughts on the immigration bill. It is a useful check on the hysteria on the right: “This is a divisive issue” for both parties, said McConnell, a Kentucky Republican. But, he said, “I don’t think there’s a single member of either party next Read more…
A week into the debate and Romney is already changing his tune. This weekend in South Carolina, Romney said: “If that’s not a form of amnesty, I don’t know what is,” Romney said. “I think we should not call it the ‘Z visa,’ we should call it the ‘A visa’ Read more…
Michael Gerson, President Bush’s former speechwriter nails it today in the WaPo. FIrst on the future of the GOP: Given current demographic realities, Republicans cannot rely on their white base alone. If a Republican presidential candidate doesn’t get about 40 percent of the Latino vote nationwide, he or she doesn’t Read more…
Yesterday, Heritage held a conference call about immigration. The theme was the same old same old. But one of the lines that jumped out at me (and Matt Lewis) was that: Jon Kyl thinks he is smarter than Reagan They hit this theme a bunch of different ways. Again, like Read more…