Although immigration has often been talked about at political conventions of the past, I don't think the economic effect on jobs and wages has ever been as prominent as in addresses this week in Cleveland. Following are some of the most direct references from the stage:
In 90 votes and co-sponsorships during 12 years in Congress (2003-12), Indiana Gov. Mike Pence earned a Career B+ Grade from NumbersUSA.
In January of 2013 before the nation knew Marco Rubio primarily as the face of the Gang of Eight comprehensive amnesty bill, he was at the top of Republican voters' preferences for the 2016 presidential nomination. Once his betrayal became widely known, he fell to 6th in the popularity polls.
Iowa's ready to vote. Political ads are full of attacks and claims about candidate positions on immigration. They're either all terrible, or all great . . . or they're somewhere in between like NumbersUSA's comprehensive analysis shows in the latest version of Worker-Protection Immigration Grade Cards.
The dust-up over the similarities between Rubio's and Cruz's immigration records and stances can be easily clarified by consulting NumbersUSA's Worker-Protection Immigration Grade Card ratings on presidential candidates and NumbersUSA's Congressional Immigration Grade Cards.
My goodness, there has been a flurry of immigration posturing and positioning since we last revised our Ratings of the Presidential candidates in 10 categories and calculated overall Worker-Protection Immigration Grades!
We've just finished our regular Grading Committee meeting (early Friday afternoon) here at NumbersUSA headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. We've sifted through the charges and counter-charges and focused on what the candidates are saying that really address what they specifically are promising to do about immigration policies.
Donald Trump stepped back from previous promises about protecting American workers and identified himself with both Marco Rubio and Mark Zuckerberg in extolling foreign tech workers. Marco Rubio overstated his protections for American workers with his efforts for H-1B expansion. Rick Santorum missed precision in some of his numbers but was in ballpark in focusing immigration policy on its relationship to labor force participation and stagnant wages. CNBC trotted out its own questionable anecdote to suggest that the country may have a labor shortage.
We sit on the precipice of the possibility that the most powerful and committed Republican House amnesty leader will become Speaker of the House.
My description of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is not based just on what I know but on what PBS proved Tuesday night with its premier airing of a two-hour documentary, IMMIGRATION BATTLE. It provided detail after detail of Ryan's back-room efforts to get a version of the Senate Gang of 8 amnesty through the House over the last two years.