WSJ: Boehner's Amnesty 'Principles' Support 'Major Planks' of Senate Immigration Bill

The forthcoming House GOP leadership immigration “principles” will reflect much of what was in the Senate “Gang of Eight” immigration bill that passed last year, the Wall Street Journal reports.

House Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan, and Judiciary Committee chairman Bob Goodlatte, among others, are developing the “principles” in a process coordinated by Boehner’s new top immigration adviser, Becky Tallent. Tallent worked for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), a member of the Senate Gang of Eight, for years, having helped write the failed immigration bill McCain pushed with the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) in the final years of the Bush administration.

The “principles,” the Wall Street Journal wrote, will grant legalization – amnesty – to illegal aliens and would give corporate CEOs exactly what they want: more cheap labor in the form of more tech visas, more importing of low-skilled labor, and other measures that would harm the over 100 million American workers out of the workforce right now.

“The principles could be released as early as next week, ahead of the State of the Union speech on Jan. 28, where President Barack Obama is expected to again call on Congress to send him immigration legislation,” the Wall Street Journal‘s Laura Meckler wrote. “They will be circulated among House Republicans for possible action this year, though timing for legislation is unclear.”

The document, according to the Wall Street Journal report, is one page long and endorses the major principles of the Gang of Eight bill that passed the Senate last year. Boehner would attempt to get as many pieces of this through however he has to, Meckler wrote.

“It contains few details but voices support for the major planks of the comprehensive bill that cleared the Senate last summer,” Meckler wrote. 

That includes increased border security, stepped-up employment verification, a temporary worker program for low-skilled workers, more visas for high-technology workers and a path to citizenship for people brought to the U.S. illegally as children, according to two people who have seen a draft. These measures would be considered as individual pieces of legislation, not as one big bill, though some pieces might be combined – such as enforcement and legalization.

Frank Sharry, who runs the left-wing pro-amnesty group America’s Voice, told Meckler that the far left of the nation’s political spectrum is pleased that the Republican Party is moving closer to supporting Democratic Party principles. 

“It is significant that a party that was in favor of self-deportation just in 2012 is moving to embrace legalization for all and citizenship for many,” Sharry said. “If they’re serious and if they detail it properly and they’re willing to work with Democrats, it’s a promising development.”