Voters handed us a much changed Congress for immigration. NumbersUSA lost and kept some great allies. And voters replaced some F-graders with new allies. How this all shakes out over the next two years still remains to be seen. Here are some initial thoughts.
With all the sensational campaign coverage of immigration issues this month, NumbersUSA commissioned Pulse Opinion Research to find out how those issues are affecting the views of likely midterm voters in congressional districts with the closest races. Those are the races that will determine which Party controls the U.S. House of Representatives.
The closest races for the U.S. House of Representatives include 16 with a candidate committed to lower immigration who is competing with a candidate who is not. Most of these 16 -- who are as likely to lose as to win -- are incumbents with good reduction records in Congress.
Although it came up 20 votes short of passing, H.R. 4760 ("the Goodlatte bill") yesterday gained the most votes in the history of the U.S. House of Representatives in terms of mandating E-Verify and ending the chain migration categories.
That is something to celebrate!
When told that a "Dreamer" or "DACA" deal (a) does not reduce legal immigration and (b) does not end chain migration and (c) does not require employers to use E-Verify, only 20% of likely voters in the coming mid-term elections say they support such legislation.
New polling of American Catholics, Evangelicals and Protestants who are likely to vote in this fall's mid-term elections once again shows the majority of them have immigration views dramatically at odds with their leaders.
In a nutshell, most American Christians want a lot less immigration -- both illegal and legal.
NumbersUSA has no choice but to oppose what is being suggested as the White House "framework" for a mass amnesty. The plan seems eerily similar to the blueprint used for the 2007 Bush-Kennedy amnesty, which appeared to end chain migration, but wouldn't actually end it for 17 years. NumbersUSA mobilized our huge grassroots army to defeat the 2007 amnesty, and we will do the same if this plan is proposed next week. Americans must demand that the House pass the Goodlatte bill to help block the damaging proposal the White House seems ready to press the Senate to approve.
Forty-six Senators stopped funding of the government Friday night because they didn't get an eighth amnesty that offers endless chains of extended family migration. Chain Migration is the top issue here. The 46 Senators wouldn't accept a DACA amnesty and wouldn't vote to fund the government unless every immigrant gets to have Chain Migration of their relatives, and unless all those relatives get Chain Migration of their relatives, and so forth. Did YOU know there have already been 7 Chain-Migration amnesties?