Paul Ryan: I support Marco Rubio on immigration

Hotair ^ | 01/14/2013 | ALLAHPUNDIT

[SeekAndFind]

What's the most interesting part of this? That he's reaching out to touch a third-rail issue, or that he's ducking behind one of his biggest rivals for the 2016 nomination to do it?

Go figure that a guy who was part of a ticket that lost by nearly 50 points among Latinos is eager to rehab on immigration:

Senator Rubio is exactly right on the need to fix our broken immigration system. I support the principles he’s outlined: modernization of our immigration laws; stronger security to curb illegal immigration; and respect for the rule of law in addressing the complex challenge of the undocumented population. Our future depends on an immigration system that works.

He's not just paying lip service to the issue. Dem Rep. Luis Gutierrez, who once said that his only loyalty is to the immigrant community, met with Ryan last month to talk immigration and had encouraging things to say:

“What we did was just kind of catch up,” Gutierrez told me. Ryan and Gutierrez decided they want to “explore opportunities to work together.” Gutierrez, one of the House leaders on immigration issues — who has kept constant pressure on President Barack Obama to do more — is crossing the aisle as Republicans need very much to woo the fast growing number of Hispanic voters — who in large part rejected the Romney/Ryan ticket…

Not well known, Gutierrez noted, is that he and Ryan share some history: In 2005, Ryan was a co-sponsor of bipartisan and bi-cameral comprehensive immigration reform legislation carried in the House by Gutierrez and Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.). “It wasn’t like it was a long line of Republicans supporting it. He’s always supported immigration reform,” Gutierrez said.

The inspiration for Ryan’s Facebook post is the glowing WSJ piece over the weekend heralding Rubio’s “charge up the middle” on immigration. But Mark Krikorian’s right: There’s little difference between Rubio’s basic principles for reform and the principles laid out by the White House in that recent NYT piece about their big upcoming push for an immigration bill. Here’s Rubio:

Politically hardest is the question of the up to 12 million illegals currently here. Mr. Rubio’s proposal allows for adults who overstayed their visa or sneaked in to come into the open.

“Here’s how I envision it,” he says. “They would have to come forward. They would have to undergo a background check.” Anyone who committed a serious crime would be deported. “They would be fingerprinted,” he continues. “They would have to pay a fine, pay back taxes, maybe even do community service. They would have to prove they’ve been here for an extended period of time. They understand some English and are assimilated. Then most of them would get legal status and be allowed to stay in this country.”

Legal status could lead to citizenship eventually, although Rubio doesn’t specify how long eventually might be. Now here’s the White House plan:

The White House will argue that its solution for illegal immigrants is not an amnesty, as many critics insist, because it would include fines, the payment of back taxes and other hurdles for illegal immigrants who would obtain legal status, the officials said.

The president’s plan would also impose nationwide verification of legal status for all newly hired workers; add visas to relieve backlogs and allow highly skilled immigrants to stay; and create some form of guest-worker program to bring in low-wage immigrants in the future.

As I recall, the bills championed by Bush and McCain six years ago also had provisions about fines, back taxes, etc. Any comprehensive plan has to: An unconditional amnesty would be too politically toxic to pass, but so would a bill that relegated illegals to perpetual second-class status by categorically refusing to grant eventual citizenship to them. Whatever ends up passing Congress will have a multi-step amnesty as part of it, which should be perfectly fine with Democrats. If they need to wait a few years for all of those new votes to show up at the polls, that’s okay; if they can get a bill passed and then chip away at it with court challenges in order to speed up the citizenship process, even better. The interesting thing here is why Ryan’s so eager to hug Rubio on it. I assume it’s because it’s arguably the least risky move he can make ahead of 2016. If he comes out strong for “enforcement first” and rejects any amnesty talk until there have been measurable improvements in border security, he’ll be hammered for compounding the GOP’s problems with Latinos, which makes him theoretically unviable in the general election. If he does the opposite and emerges on Rubio’s left by pushing a less conditional amnesty, now he’s suddenly vulnerable in the primary as a RINO. He knows that Rubio’s destined to be the Republican face of whatever happens in Congress and he also knows that conservatives will tread lightly in criticizing Rubio for whatever position he ends up taking lest they slip even further with Latinos in 2016, so Ryan’s doing the prudent thing — letting Rubio serve as lightning rod while he signals that he’s at least as open-minded and reformist on this issue as his rival is.

[Ray76]

RINO swine.

[ncalburt]

Allahpundit is a Rhino amnesty promoter along with the other
Lib Repub bloggers at that site.
It’s a disaster there since Malkin sold it !

[GeronL]

Again, I am not surprised.

The GOPe will cave on every major issue and when 2014 comes around they will demand your vote and if you say NO, they will say you must want Democrats to win.

lolz

[ClearCase_guy]

The Republican Party will never rise again.

[Bigtigermike]

Yes, I agree!!! Hotair use to be a fine place for conservatism but its been relegated to nothing more than a mouth piece for the Republican Establishment line thanks to Allahpundit

[TomGuy]

stronger security to curb illegal immigration

If we believe that, we get the Brooklyn Bridge for free and the Golden Gate bridge thrown in as a bonus.

The FED will curb illegal immigration. Sure they will. Like they did after the last 2 major amnesties. So, if they did what they promised, why did we even need a 2nd amnesty and why do we need another one now? Could it be that the FED lied?????

When they institute efforts to actually STOP it, then it might be worth considering. Until then, it is just more of the same bait-and-switch.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

Yep. We’ve already granted enough amnesty.

They owe us twice on the border-protection part of the deal.

Giving them another amnesty is like giving the Dhimmis another tax increase with the promise to cut spending later.

[freekitty]

Exactly

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

So let me get this straight, Ryan was the last great hope to get the US economy straightened out by balancing budgets, cutting spending, and all that?

But now he supports legalizing those 20 million or so who are here destroying our economy by draining our social services, working under the table, not paying taxes, and cheating heartily on all manners of tax refunds they do not deserve? Does Ryan really believe if they are granted legal status that they will be so grateful that they will suddenly turn from plundering to playing a fair game?

How does that math add up, Paul?

[nickcarraway]

The funny thing is that the birth rate in Mexico plummeting below Mexico, immigration probably won’t be a big issue in the future. How long is it before the majority of immigration is U.S. to Mexico.

[Aetius]

It’s no surprise at all that Ryan will prove to be a liberal on immigration. What reason was there ever to believe he’d be anything but worthless on the issue?

Ryan apparently has a libertarian streak, so he’s probably delusional about the appeal of small government and the free market to immigrant communities.

[samadams2000]

Uhm Paul..Could you please save the union before you sell us out by legalizing 30 million illegals?

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

The GOP is dead to me. You should have heard my mom the other day when the called her for money. It was a sight to behold. The guy on the phone started arguing with her. DON’T EVER try to ‘out stubborn’ my mom. LOL!

It breaks her heart because she was such an activist for the GOP throughout her entire life (she used to drag me along to all of the for. We’re talking fighting Dixicrats, here in the South. I should write a novel. She has signed letters from many Republican presidents that are framed on her wall. Not to mention....she has painted many portraits of them as well.

Seriously, tho, it is heartbreaking to see my mom all these years, working hard, and the GOP being transformed into the DNCRNC and NOT standing for ANYTHING. I hate to see her disappointed for all of the hard work she put in and to convert many people away from the racist Dixicrats.

[SeminoleCounty]

Get ready to be sold out on Illegal Alien Amnesty

Ryan is just as Amnesty Liberal as Rubio

The GOP is setting up for losses in 2014 and 2016. Dumping 65% of the overall vote for 10% of the overall vote is a loser

[TomGuy]

How long is it before the majority of immigration is U.S. to Mexico.

A significant amount is already taking place.

Mexico ended 2012 with an unemployment rate right at 5%.

[Oldexpat]

Just send your Congress critter and email and tell them that a vote for amnesty will eliminate my vote for you. I’ll vote for none of the above before you.

[oldbill]

Well, it looks like a lot os us will be staying home again in 2014 and 2016.

The GOP is now dead. The corpse is still twitching, but it’s all over. Those faux conservatives like Rubio and Ryan are showing that they are unprincipled politicians putting themselves ahead of their country.

We should just call their bluff on the immigration question. Submit a bill that would give immediate amnesty and citizenship to exactly 11 million illegal aliens.

But not a single one more. Just 11 million. And those 11 million will not be allowed to bring in a single relative - none. No chain migration.

Then mandate that at every job these once illegals work, they must be paid the existing union wage for that trade. Not $10/hour, but $23/hour plus benefits.

That will expose the hypocrisy of these amnesty loving politicians. If they are really concerned about just the 11 million, they would accept it. But they won’t.

[entropy12]

Does it make a difference whether they are legal or illegal?

>> Illegals are working in jobs NOW

>> Illegals are voting illegally NOW

>> Illegals are getting food stamps NOW

>> Illegals are receiving free emergency hospital care NOW

>> Illegals are receiving pre-natal maternity benefits NOW

>> Illegals work for cash and pay no taxes NOW

>> Illegals are getting drivers licenses NOW in some states

Worst part is illegals do not need to register, so we have no idea who is here and where.

May be making available a legal permit to work, the system can collect taxes and get a handle on who is here and whether to eventually give them permanent status or deport them.

[svcw]

Our immigration policy is cumbersome and arbitrary........
what I do not understand is Republicans caving on the notion that anyone who comes here after a time should be a citizen, no matter how they get here. I have friends who have PhDs in engineering that took ten years to get legal status (they are white) and I really wish that did not matter.
Everyone is welcome but come LEGALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!