A national tea party leader is endorsing immigration overhaul legislation including legal status for the 11.5 million people now here illegally.
Sal Russo, a co-founder of Tea Party Express, makes the comments in an opinion piece in Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper.
He writes that conservatives should be at the forefront of immigration legislation to ensure it doesn’t just reflect the interests of, in his words, “liberal do-gooder reformers.”
Russo’s comments are notable because although many establishment Republicans have backed action on immigration, while many conservatives and tea partyers have been opposed.
That opposition has stalled immigration legislation in the GOP-led House 11 months after the Senate passed a far-ranging bill.
Russo calls on the House to act and says those here illegally must get “right by the law.”
(AP)
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4 Responses
a U at best a V turn of their position, to save themselves of becoming irrelevant, and to save Rubio.
The issue that defines the tea party is fiscal responsibility (anti-tax, anti-spending, anti-deficit).On other issues one might say that support for the “Tea party” correlates with a given position, but not that there is a tea party position on such issues (e.g. most tea party supporters favor guns rights and oppose abortion, but some do not – it is a propensity, not a part of the platform).
From an economic perspective, liberalizing immigration is good for the economy, since legalized immigrants pay lots of taxes and invest much in building out economy.
The anti-immigrant (nativists) within the Republican Party are not necessarily advocates of small government. Indeed the nativist and anti-immigrant groups are often Democrats (particularly those fearing competition from working class Hispanics). The religious right, which also correlates with “Tea party” tends to be pro-immigrant since many if not most immigrants are religious and social conservatives
“Indeed the nativist and anti-immigrant groups are often Democrats”
Name two.
Remember, the Tea Party is a charity. So give it to them!