In response to a question at a town hall event this week, Rep. Aaron Schock (R-IL) suggested that a majority of House Republicans support granting amnesty through a GOP version of the DREAM Act to young illegal aliens who were brought to America as minors by their parents.
Schock, a member of the whip team led by House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, was laying out for constituents his stances on immigration and the House GOP leadership’s plan to deal with the issue later this year.
“They’re going to move one bill after another dealing with all the various issues that were contained in the Senate bill,” Schock said to the town hall, as seen in video posted on YouTube. “So first, the border security bill should be the first bill that moves in the House. I think that’s going to be an easy bill to pass. It passed out of the Homeland Security Committee with almost unanimous support. Almost every Republican and Democrat on Homeland Security voted for the House border security bill. I think that will pass the House and I think that’s a done deal and that’s done with. Then, you’re going to deal with your high-tech visas and your ag visa worker programs. I think, again, you’re going to get overwhelming bipartisan support on those provisions. I don’t know what the final language is going to look like.”
Schock’s outline of the preliminary plan matches what other member of GOP leadership have said. When he got to the third part of the plan, a DREAM Act which is currently being drafted by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and will eventually be introduced as the KIDS Act, Schock promised there would be a vote on the DREAM Act in the House and promised it would pass with bipartisan support.
“Then you’re going to have a third bill which is going to deal with your DREAM Act kids, those who were brought here illegally by their parents,” Schock said. “I think, again, you’re going to get a bipartisan vote on a House version of the DREAM Act.”
For any immigration bill to be brought to the floor for a vote in the House, Speaker John Boehner has mandated that it must have the support of the majority of House Republicans–known as abiding by the “Hastert Rule,” meaning no bill will come to the floor for a vote without the support of the majority of the majority. For Schock to not only promise it would pass, but that there would even be a vote on the bill, says that, he–a member of the House GOP leadership’s whip team–knows or believes that a majority of House Republicans support the DREAM Act.
Schock’s office has not responded to Breitbart News’ request for comment in response to this declaration and has not publicly provided a whip list of which Republicans he and the rest of McCarthy’s whip team expect to support the amnesty for young illegal aliens.
At the town hall this week, Schock also said he supports a comprehensive immigration bill of the sort opposed by House conservatives. He also promised some kind of amnesty, although not necessarily citizenship, for all illegal aliens would come up for a vote in the House.
“The final bill, which will be the most difficult bill, will be dealing with people who are here currently illegally and the path – what is the solution for that,” Schock said. “There are people in the House who think we should find a way to grant them legal status, but not a path to citizenship. There are other people who say no, it has to be a path to citizenship. My mindset is people should come forward, have to pay a penalty and a fine, there should be a probationary period. I am not in the camp that believes people should have to leave the country in order to get in line. I just happen to believe that’s an unrealistic expectation that 11 million people are going to leave. I think it would be destructive to our economy, number one, and number two, many of them do not have a place to go back to even if they wanted to. And number three, I think it adversely affects the self-identification – if self-identifies and knows now they have to leave. I want whatever we pass to work. I want it to be a real reform bill. And I want it to be constructive to the overall process of having more legal immigration down the road.”
In response to a follow-up question from the town hall audience member who prompted Schock’s immigration remarks, Schock added that he thinks “there should be a pathway to citizenship for anybody who wants to come to America.”
“I think they ought to self-identify, I think they should pay back taxes and I think they should be on a legal probationary program,” Schock said. “So, if you break a law, if you break a law, if you do something wrong, you’re thrown out. But, I don’t think there should be anything stopping anyone who self-identifies, pays their back taxes and continues to pay taxes in our country to get in the back of the line with everyone else who wants to become an American citizen. What I don’t support is giving any kind of preferential treatment to people who are here illegally above those people who are outside our borders currently that are waiting in line.”
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