Posted on 04/23/2013 7:04:46 PM PDT by SoConPubbie
On Monday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said that including a "path to citizenship" for illegal immigrants in any comprehensive immigration bill would jeopardize the likelihood of the legislation passing. “I think if instead the bill includes elements that are deeply divisive--and I would note that I don’t think there is any issue in this entire debate that is more divisive than a path to citizenship for those who are here illegally--in my view, any bill that insists upon that jeopardizes the likelihood of passing any immigration reform bill,” Cruz said at the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing, according to CNS News. The conservative senator from Texas said Americans should "all be champions of legal immigrants making the system work" and celebrate legal immigrants. He said the bill should focus on improving legal immigration instead of giving a pathway to citizenship to illegal immigrants. The Gang of Eight's proposed immigration bill includes an eventual path to citizenship for the country's current illegal immigrants. Sens. John McCain (R-AZ), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Jeff Flake (R-AZ) are Republicans that make up the Gang of Eight, along with Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Michael Bennet (D-CO), and Bob Menendez (D-NJ). Cruz said he hoped the "reform legislation will not be held hostage to an issue that is deeply, deeply divisive, namely a pathway to citizenship." He said it was his hope that Congress could pass a bipartisan bill addressing areas of common agreement like "securing the border, improving legal immigration, improving agricultural workers to ensure that we have workers who are here out of the shadows, able to work legally." "In my view, that’s how we get something done--we focus on areas of agreement, not on areas of disagreement, and
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
He actually uses the ‘out of the shadows’ phrase in a quote in the article, and is thus clearly talking about making the tens of millions legal—though at this point he says he’d prefer to stop short of making them citizens.
Making the lawbreakers here legal is in itself amnesty, but I don’t believe that they’d be left legal long-term without making them citizens, anyway.
This is from his quote above, “to ensure that we have workers who are here out of the shadows, able to work legally,” where the only issue he has with the status given to them in the bill—which provides all kinds of ways for the administration to legalize more and more categories of illegals by fiat—is providing them citizenship because it is ‘divisive’.
‘Divisive’, by the way, is code for politically unpopular at this point and maybe tough to get through Congress.
Exactly. Rubio is not only embarrassing himself on this one issue, he is setting up permanent minority political status for conservatives in this country.
Not for nothing has he been a longtime Bush political property.
BTW, one way Cruz got the GOP nomination was by beating up on Dewhurst for being weak on illegal immigration:
http://www.ontheissues.org/international/Ted_Cruz_Immigration.htm
He swore that he was against amnesty during the campaign. His one fig leaf he’s holding up over that position now is wishing the bill didn’t also grant citizenship in one fell swoop.
Cut and paste from an earlier thread:
Those in this country without a “green card” are ineligible to apply for citizenship. Those here on a student visa, for example, cannot apply for citizenship. However, as soon as you grant permanent residency to someone, then they have a path to citizenship automatically.
Therefore a new immigration status needs to be created called “Permanent Guest Worker” and we can hand out those “Blue Cards” or whatever to the Illegals who are living here. Gives you the right to live in this country, come and go as you please, pay taxes, etc., but cannot apply for permanent residency (or by extnesion citizenship) unless they surrender their “blue card” and return to their own country to apply for permanent residency through the legal channels like everyone else. No changes to the permanent residency laws need to be made.
Brings the illegals “out of the shadows” (as if they’re currently hiding while applying for drivers licenses, welfare benefits, and in state tuition at universities) while not creating tens of millions of new Democratic voters. No changes to the citizenship laws need to be made because they are already geared to permanent residents. This new immigration status won’t be a permanent residency, but permanent guest worker.
Then after this program is established, we really crack down on arrest, detainment, and deportation of anyone without a valid visa (green card, the new “blue card,” or temporary work, tourist, or student visa.) That’s where you’d have to trust the POS who is POTUS. None of this would happen for several years, so we’d have to trust Hilda Beast Clintoon...
All he’s saying there is that he fears granting citizenship in the bill will jeopardize its passing, and he wants to see the bill passed.
Here are the last two paragraphs of the article, complete with his quoting the old “out of the shadows” saw:
Cruz said he hoped the “reform legislation will not be held hostage to an issue that is deeply, deeply divisive, namely a pathway to citizenship.” He said it was his hope that Congress could pass a bipartisan bill addressing areas of common agreement like “securing the border, improving legal immigration, improving agricultural workers to ensure that we have workers who are here out of the shadows, able to work legally.”
“In my view, that’s how we get something done—we focus on areas of agreement, not on areas of disagreement, and I’m hopeful that over the course of consideration, we’ll see some consensus come together to do exactly that,” he said.
He makes it clear in the article that his objection to including citizenship in this bill is that it might keep it from passing.
But he wants to legalize people, supports the bulk of the hideous bill, and the only inevitable step left is to eventually give them citizenship.
If you can’t see a massive amnesty and capitulation in that, as well as that being in contradiction to the tough stand he ran on, then I don’t think there’s anything more I can quote or show you to open your eyes.
Poison pill amendment: Any person having entered any of the United States illegally may not vote in national[1] elections if subsequently naturalized.
(Personally, I don’t think that having entered illegally they should EVER be naturalized, but we all know that the polital class want.)
Poison pill amendment 2: Any person naturalized by the above bill may not vote in national elections for a period of 20 years from the date of naturalization[2].
[1] States rights - let then decide state/local.
[2] This is Rush’s idea, NOT mine.
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