With much of the National Mall blocked off for public access, the National Park Service is allowing a major pro-immigration reform rally to take place on those same grounds. Iowa Rep. Steve King calls that a major double standard on the part of the Obama administration during this government shutdown and vows to do everything possible to prevent that legislation from getting through the House this year.
The National Park Service has become one of the most visible examples of the partial government shutdown. Workers have been called off furlough to barricade previously and guard open spaces and memorials on the National Mall. Some veterans have been allowed to see their memorials but the general public has been locked out.
It’s a different story for supporters of immigration reform. They have been green-lighted for today’s rally on the National Mall, with the National Park Service saying the freedom of speech lives on even if the government is shut down.
“Isn’t that bizarre, the essential service of providing a place for illegal aliens to demonstrate in our capital? We’re going to throw a lot of park officers and security personnel of all kinds out there to keep order and pick up litter. In another world, ICE would be there instead,” said King, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“By the way there will be a lot of litter to pick up down there along the mall. We’ve seen it in the past. But when the tea parties show up, you can’t find even a cigarette butt laying out there. They police the grounds. When they’re finished, there may be some grass that’s been walked on but there won’t be any litter. I hope there’ll be a little assimilation taking place as the protesters come here and run up the bill during the furlough of our park officers and security personnel,” said King.
Immigration passed the U.S. Senate months ago in the form of the bipartisan ‘Gang of Eight’ bill. House Republicans have advanced four bills out of the Judiciary Committee. King admits they are “pretty good” but he still opposes them because he cannot see an end game that doesn’t involve the granting of “amnesty” to millions and millions of people in the country illegally.
“I have asked all Republicans on the committee, ‘Tell me how these bills can get through the Senate and to the president’s desk and signed into law without the Gang of Eight’s amnesty being attached to it?’ And the answer that I get is, ‘Well, that’s what you’re supposed to help us with,'” said King. “I want to help them with that by resisting the idea that we should try to pass anything because it sets us up for a conference. If there’s a conference committee formed, of course the Senate’s Gang of Eight bill goes on the table and they start injecting thing from that rejected Gang of Eight immigration bill from the Senate.
“I don’t think any good can come from immigration legislation coming to the floor this fall. I’m going to continue to make my point that it divides Republicans. It erodes the rule of law. It encourages illegal immigration. It’s the wrong message to send and, by the way, it’s a political loser for Republicans. They should know that by now even though it was the opposite assertion after the election,” said King.
House Republicans are publicly divided on immigration policy and reports from earlier in the year suggest GOP leaders are largely supportive of the Senate’s framework. King says if the House does move forward on this legislation, opponents won’t know about until it’s too late to rally public opposition.
“If they decide to push it, they will already rounded up as many votes as they can kind of on the quiet. They will have whipped their votes and then those of us who oppose this will find out about it as late as possible. They’re not going to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to plan to do this in three weeks so if you want to get your troops all ready, we’ll line up against each other and go for it.’ It’s the other way. It’s kind of a stealth maneuver,” said King.
Even if a bill is brought forward on short notice, King says the opposition from amnesty critics will be fierce.
“I know who the people are who stand for the rule of law and border security and they understand that what happens if there’s anything that passes the House, all John Boehner has to do is name a conference committee and we are very close to sunk,” he said.
But King says that strategy is not set in stone. In fact, he believes leadership might adhere to a more conservative tack as a result of the current government funding shutdown.
“We’ve gotten stronger as a conference and John Boehner’s stronger today than he was a week ago. And I want him to be strong. We need to focus on this continuing resolution and this partial shutdown. We need to focus on the debt ceiling and this idea that somehow there’s something urgent about immigration is not true,” said King.
The congressman says the arguments against the Senate version of immigration reform remain clear.
“If you look at who benefits from illegal immigration or from passing what they call comprehensive immigration reform – and we all know that’s a euphemism for amnesty – the people that benefit from that are employers of illegals, they benefit from cheap labor, and the power brokers for the Democratic Party and those people that are here illegally. Middle class America, the low-skilled or unskilled worker, the people who are entering into jobs at the lowest levels are the ones that are disadvantaged the most because they’re being pushed out of jobs,” said King.
“Young Americans growing up are missing their opportunity to learn a work ethic and build their skill level because there’s somebody there who’s in the United States illegally who will go in and work cheaper and they’re being cut out of their opportunities. The double-digit unemployment exists the highest in the lowest-skilled jobs. Now they’re talking about bringing in hundreds of thousands of unskilled workers to fill a demand that doesn’t exist in this economy,” said King.