GOP Amnesty Plan Ignores Will of Republican Voters

With the midterm elections looming, House Republicans are discounting their constituents’ wishes by crafting a measure to give illegal immigrants legal status, a chance at permanent U.S. residency and even American citizenship.

The unbelievable plan was confirmed by GOP leadership on national television this week and reiterated in a mainstream newspaper article. Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, whose national profile rose immensely after running as Mitt Romney’s vice president, revealed that the Republican measure looks to give the nation’s estimated 11 million illegal aliens legal status right away. That means they will get work permits and “come out of the shadows,” said Ryan who chairs the powerful House Budget Committee.

After a probationary period, the newly legalized could green cards and even U.S. citizenship. Incredibly, Ryan said on national television that he and his fellow Republicans want to “make sure this is not an amnesty.” Then what is it? When a country offers millions of people living within its boundaries illegally instant legal status, work permits and a crack at citizenship it’s called amnesty.

This could be costly come November. A recent national poll conducted by Judicial Watch and Breitbart revealed that a full 71% of Republicans support enforcing immigration laws with just 21% in favor of changing them. The survey also determined that a plurality of Americans (49%) believe the U.S. should enforce current immigration laws and that they expect illegal immigrants to return to their homes rather than changing the law to provide legal status for the ones already here.

The same poll, released in late December, also showed that 51% of Americans either “strongly oppose” or “somewhat oppose” sanctuary cities that protect illegal aliens by prohibiting police from enforcing federal immigration laws. Even among demographics more likely than average to favor sanctuary policies, the plurality still want federal immigration laws enforced, the JW survey found. For example, although 41% of Hispanics favor sanctuary policies, 46% still oppose them.

At least one high-ranking Republican, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, has taken note of this, issuing a memo to his House colleagues following Ryan’s announcement. Sessions warns of the negative impact that the immigration proposals moving through congress would have on American workers, taxpayers and the rule of law. His memo includes objective polling data—not misleading polls from special interests—demonstrating the depth to which the measures are repudiated by working and middle class workers from all backgrounds.

“A sensible immigration policy would also listen to the opinion of the American people not the opinions of the paid-for consultants trotted out with their agenda-driven polls to GOP member meetings…” the Sessions memo says, citing a Rasmussen report that shows working and middle class Americans strongly oppose large expansions of our already generous immigration system. The senator also drives home an important point: “There should be no special path to citizenship for those who have broken our immigration laws.”