JASON RILEY: JEFF SESSIONS AND CHARLES GRASSLEY….THE GOP IMMIGRATION PRETENDERS
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324474004578442630045389510.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLESecond
Earlier this week, I wrote that two GOP senators who were very quick to drag the Boston Marathon bombings into the immigration reform debate—Charles Grassley of Iowa and Jeff Sessions of Alabama—also had track records of opposing increases in legal immigration. Because some lawmakers like to pretend that they only oppose illegal immigration, I wasn’t too surprised to hear from the offices of both senators.
“Senator Grassley is not an opponent of legal immigration. In fact, he has said just the opposite on numerous occasions,” said a spokeswoman in an email. Mr. Sessions’s office was equally befuddled. “Surely you can point to a specific statement or public position my boss has taken to justify such a controversial description of his views,” wrote a flack.
The record shows that Mr. Grassley has been a consistent critic of the H-1b visa program for foreign professionals who want to work in the U.S. He has opposed lifting the visa cap. He has put holds on legislation that would speed the process for hiring foreign nationals who come here legally, and he has supported per-country limits on green cards. In 2007, Mr. Grassley slipped an amendment into a spending bill that would tax businesses that hire skilled immigrants an additional $3,500 per visa. And in 2009 he co-authored legislation with Democratic Sen. Richard Durbin that would have made it more difficult for U.S. companies to hire foreign workers.
Mr. Sessions, for his part, has focused on curtailing the legal migration of lower-skilled workers. He has opposed expanding the H-2b visa program for short-term seasonal jobs not in agriculture. In 2006 and 2007, he led efforts to kill a guest-worker program that would have allowed future immigrants to enter the country legally. The senator said at the time that he was worried about “how many people will come in” legally and that “all those workers are able to become permanent residents and citizens in short order.”
Like Big Labor, Mr. Grassley and Mr. Sessions assert that immigrants take jobs from Americans. But the reality today is that there is higher unemployment and less immigration (legal and illegal) than we had under George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. If immigrants drive U.S. unemployment, where is the evidence?
The senators say they support more legal immigration, but politicians say a lot of things—President Obama claims to support more oil and gas drilling—which is why it’s better to also pay attention to how they act.
Comments are closed.
