Tea Party Groups Ready to Challenge House Immigration Bill

After focusing on the IRS scandal, Tea Party groups are targeting comprehensive immigration legislation that the House will take up after the Senate passed the “Gang of Eight” bill last week 68-32.

Aware the pressure representatives will face in their districts to oppose the bill, the White House is trying to encourage the House to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill before the August recess. Even if the House passes a bill before then, chances are slim that House and Senate conferees will negotiate a final bill before the recess. That means that House members will face plenty of opposition when they go back home.

Tea Party groups are getting ready, “preparing to again mount demonstrations during the summer break” against comprehensive immigration reform. 

According to Fox News, Tea Party groups such as the Cincinnati Tea Party have sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) asking him to declare the Senate bill “dead on arrival” because it would make life tougher for American-born workers “struggling to reach the bottom rung of the economic ladder.” 

House Republicans may fear primary challenges in 2014 if they vote for the bill, which will also be a deterrent. Tea Party groups are trying to encourage primary challengers to Senate Republican who supported it. In South Carolina, the South Carolina Tea Party Coalition said they would “love” to see Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a “Gang of Eight” member, primaried. 

And Tea Party activists are also trying to urge former Rep. Allen West (R-FL) to primary Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), another Gang of Eight member who became the face of the Senate’s immigration bill.