CPAC 2015's Conservative View of Immigration Focused on "Consensus"

“We are not a nation of immigrants, we are a nation of citizens.” – Mark Levine to CPAC

CPAC 2015 Panel on Immigration
From left: Alfonso Aguilar, Rep. Jeff Duncan, Charlie Gerow, Mario Lopez
Photo: Ileana Johnson 2015

Among the glitz and conservative rhetoric of CPAC 2015, one important panel discussion was barely attended by 40-50 people – “Immigration: Can Conservatives Reach a Consensus?” It is in my estimation an issue that is going to fundamentally alter the makeup of our society forever.

The panel was moderated by Charlie Gerow of Quantum Communications and consisted of three panelists:  Representative Jeff Duncan (SC-3), Alfonso Aguilar of the American Principles Project and Mario Lopez of the Hispanic Leadership Fund.

Alfonso Aguilar presented an argument for a conservative solution that respects the rule of law and focuses on border security but recognizes the need that our economy has for foreign workers, dealing at the same time with “the undocumented population without doing amnesty.”  Amnesty, in his view, and self-deportation that does not work, are “false choices.”

Because the status quo is not an option, Aguilar said, we must encourage those Republicans who share his view and convince the rest of the Republicans that “the status quo is not acceptable.”  People are staying here illegally because “Big Government encourages de facto amnesty.” Additionally, “people come here to work, they are not coming here to have children and to become citizens, no mother brings her child so they can pay instate tuition at Texas A&M.” They come here because there is no way for them to enter and exist legally, Aguilar continued.

Yes, we need border security, strategic fencing, and more resources in places like the Rio Grande Valley where there is lawlessness; we need expanded use of sensors, of drones, and an exit registry, Aguilar proposed.

“We believe in the free market. If American Big Business cannot find workers, why should the government tell an American employer that they cannot bring a foreign worker that they need? Let the market determine,” continued Aguilar. “The Braceros program worked, but liberals opposed it because of the unions.”  

Aguilar argued for family reunification, that we cannot break up families. There are entire towns in Mexico that have dislocated populations, he said. We have become a social featherbed for the poor Mexican population. Aguilar argued that “children” traveled last summer on top of trains to be reunited with their families. Yet there is factual information that many among these travelers were not children, were known gang members, and transportation and housing were arranged and paid for by our government.

The panel emphasized that we need a market-based guest worker program that will work as long as operational control and border security are under control. We cannot grow the economy, Aguilar said, if there are no American workers willing the do the job and we do not have foreign workers.  What about millions of American citizens who are currently unemployed and have no prospects of getting a job in this terribly mismanaged and depressed economy? Why does the government only care for the fate of illegal aliens and not the future of our own American citizens?

What can we do with the millions of “undocumented” currently residing in the United States? “We cannot deport millions of people,” Aguilar said, and self-deportation does not work. Actually deportations have occurred in the past successfully.  He proposes a penalty for the path of legal status, but no citizenship.

In light of the hurried Social Security cards which were issued to the five million amnestied by executive fiat, these people will vote illegally for those who brought them into our country. Contrary to what Aguilar said, “Latinos are not natural-born Democrats,” they do come from third world nations whose citizens look up to big government for their salvation and wellbeing even though they may be conservative with their families and with religious views. They look up to the Pope with reverence, a political figure, who has criticized capitalism in favor of Marxism and has interjected himself in the issue of global warming and population control.

Mario Lopez pointed to a chart from Reason.com, showing the backlogged legal immigration system as a proof that our immigration system is broken. He mentioned Obama’s executive overreach in reference to amnesty and how he voted five times as a senator for poison pill amendments to kill the immigration reform bill proposed long before he became President.

Pointing to the visa lottery, the country quotas, and the bureaucratic nightmare that backlogs family integration visas, he said, “It is almost impossible to immigrate legally to the United States.” My question is, how many members from an extended family in Mexico should be allowed to integrate with one illegal family member who successfully jumped our border, while millions from other countries are waiting to bring one spouse and/or child into the United States?

“People are dying every day to get a piece of the American dream. “ They are not coming here for handouts, welfare checks. People come because America is the shiny city on a hill.” I say, it is a shining city on the hill with generous welfare programs at the border. This mass exodus into the United States created “legacy voters” who are loyal to Democrats who promise and deliver more welfare.

“Why is the system broken? It is not broken, it is not enforced,” said a member of the audience. “What has to be changed, radically changed?” Aguilar answered that the immigration track, the quota system based on the country of origin, treats other countries unfairly, and it must be stopped. The H2B visas for non-agricultural unskilled workers should not be capped at 65,000 per year, he argued, because employers cannot find American workers and the labor market should be allowed to prevail.

Do politicians and immigration lobbyists care how millions of unskilled and unemployed Americans are supposed to find jobs? The tired explanation that Americans won’t do jobs that illegals do is a convenient fantasy created for those in need of cheaper labor. Additionally, not all illegals are paid lower wages.

Rep. Jeff Duncan interjected that we have an unsecure border and a broken sovereignty.  “The American people do not trust the administration to enforce the law so why should we have another law for the President to pick and choose winners and losers; the President has poisoned the well to have a conversation in Congress because no one trusts the administration to actually do the job that it is charged to do. We have to uphold the law.”

Rep. Duncan said that the robust welfare system incentivizes people not to take the jobs. In order to redress the immigration problem, welfare reform must also be addressed concurrently.  Rep. Jeff Duncan’s partying words were, “ I don’t agree with everything the panel has said, but we should have a debate and listen to the American people.”

People should come here legally and then go back to their countries. The American people should decide how much immigration we have. Mario Lopez argued that “Labor is an economic commodity. Overpopulation is not an issue if you complain that you are bringing in too many illegals. There is a demand of labor.”

Panelists agreed with one audience member that citizenship should be outlawed if a person has committed a crime in the United States and the offenders should be sent back to their home countries.

To the question, could labor unions be a hindrance to the proposed immigration system, Mario Lopez answered that labor unions are generally against it with the exception of a few such as the SEIU. “Operatives in unions are generally Democrats.” He continued that “we cannot keep people out” and “the Chamber of Commerce wants cheap labor.”

The question remains, if illegals who refuse to assimilate do not come to the United States for welfare, why have so many received over $4.1 billion in earned income tax credit, who claimed children of relatives in Mexico, and why recently amnestied illegals, who have not paid taxes at all, will receive retroactively for 2011-2013 as much as $35,000 per family in earned income tax credit?

Would it not be cheaper for the American taxpayer to enforce e-verify and adopt $5 biometric cards that would match prospective foreign employees with prospective employers and stop all welfare to illegal aliens? Would it not be safer for the American people to stop bringing in “refugees” from countries that are hostile to our culture, to our western civilization, to our legal system, and to our way of life?

Copyright: Ileana Johnson 2015

 

 

 

First Day at CPAC 2015

Photo: Fairfax Free Citizen

The biggest conservative conference in the country featured on the first day many prominent figures and politicians who form the conservative movement in our country and influence such policies.

Dr. Ben Carson, the first speaker of the day, emphasized the need to reach minority voters, to return control of education to the local level by abolishing the federal Common Core standards, and the need to eliminate welfare dependency. “I’m not interested in getting rid of the safety net. I’m interested in getting rid of the dependency.”

Charlie Kirk, Sen. Sasse (NE) and Mia Love (UT-4) discussed ways in which the American dream can be reclaimed by millennials who are looking forward to their future.

Phyllis Schlaffly of the Eagle Forum and Emmett McGroarty of the American Principles Project looked at the many ways that the rotten Common Core destroys the American education system, the American dream, and alters the fundamental make-up and ideals of our nation.

Sen. John Barrasso (WY), Rep. Marsha Blackburn (TN-7) and Jim Capretta of Ethics and Public Policy Center offered a concrete conservative replacement to Obamacare.

Sen. Joni Ernst (IA) and LTC Oliver North, USMC (Ret.) of the Freedom Alliance gave speeches in support of our veterans, forgotten and ignored by this administration.

A debate on Obama’s initiative to reduce intellectual property rights highlighted Adam Mossoff of George Mason University and a panel that looked at “patent trolls” who file blanket lawsuits to target small businesses.

Departing from the usual CPAC speeches, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey was interviewed on stage by conservative talk-show host Laura Ingraham who asked him pointed questions.

In response to Laura’s question that he signed New Jersey early onto Common Core and to Race to the Top grants, Christie avoided a direct answer by emphasizing that local control, parents, teachers, and others at the state level should set education standards.

As a pro-life advocate, Christie vetoed Planned Parenthood even though he is not a social conservative. He has a passion in fighting for the people, speaking his mind, and often tells people “to sit down and shut up.” “There is so much ridiculous stuff coming out of the White House,” he said. He wants to reform education and to save the pension system by being fiscally responsible but the teachers’ union is fighting him.

He avoided the question on illegal immigration by declaring that we must create opportunities for unemployed Americans like the people in Detroit, however, “folks want to come here” and we have “misdirected priorities.”

Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett Packard, and Chairman of the American Conservative Union Foundation, made pointed remarks about Hillary Clinton’s job performance as Secretary of State. She joked about her own unmarketable Stanford degree in Medieval History and Philosophy and how that “degree has come in handy recently since the President is talking about the Crusades.” She continued, “Yes, Mr. President, ISIS wants to drive the whole world back to the Middle Ages, but the rest of us moved on about 800 years ago.”

Addressing the Democrat-invented war on women and the faux inequality cries coming from well-paid liberal academia and from millionaires in Hollywood, Fiorina explained, and “I know that it is only in this country that a young woman can go from secretary to CEO.”

“Life has potential,” she said, and you have the right and opportunity in this country to fulfill your potential. But you need a real education to fulfill that potential, not just a handout and social justice indoctrination.

She advocated ending this administration’s destruction of small businesses that create half of the new jobs in this country; we need more small businesses, not large crony capitalism.  We have to retrain America as more and more workers lose their jobs.

She criticized the lack of leadership in this country giving as example Secretary Clinton’s response to the Benghazi fiasco, who said, “What difference does it make?” Fiorina continued, “Flying is an activity, not an accomplishment. Mrs. Clinton, please, name an accomplishment! I have met Vladimir Putin and I know that his ambitions will not be deterred by a gimmicky red reset button.” Referring to Hillary Clinton, Fiorina concludes, “She does not know what leadership means.” Our country is “without equivocation the greatest nation that the world has ever known” and it needs a leader.

We have too many failing high schools in this country, Fiorina said, and the President is trying to distract us by offering two years of community college classes free.

Sen. Ted Cruz (TX) rocked the house with his proposal to bring back a Reagan Coalition, to promote life, marriage, economic growth, to fight ISIS, and a nuclear Iran. Sean Hannity asked him several questions. “America is in jeopardy and we are gathered here to fight for freedom in our country.” We must reignite America and reassemble the Reagan coalition, he said.

Cruz pointedly remarked that Washington wants Obamacare but people want freedom, the people don’t want amnesty pushed by Washington, they want the rule of law. “If you like your Internet, you can keep your Internet.” Unfortunately Net Neutrality was approved today and the Internet will be treated as a utility. Cruz followed with, “Hillary Clinton embodies the corruption in Washington.” We need to run a populist campaign, he said, and bring power back to the American people, away from Washington.

The panel on immigration asked the question if “Conservatives can reach a consensus?” I was speechless since the American people do not want illegal immigration and certainly do not want a consensus -- they want the law enforced and want legal immigrants that are actually assimilating and contributing to the wellbeing of our exceptional nation.

The discussion centered again on the legal immigration system being broken, the old tired rhetoric from Washington. When asked what specific part was broken and why the borders are not enforced, panel members were unable to give a credible response.

Panel members Alfonso Aguilar with the American Principles Project and Mario Lopez with the Hispanic Leadership Fund voiced the opinion that these “folks,” referring to illegal aliens, come here for work and we therefore need to bring back a guest worker program similar to the Braceros in the 1960s that was successful but it was pulled by the Mexican government.

Some of the audience members disagreed that illegals come here just to work, they receive full welfare benefits, giving examples of the $4.1 billion given to ITIN tax filers in earned income tax credit for children who were not even living in the United States and the 2011-2013 retroactive earned income tax credit that will be given to illegal aliens who are going to be amnestied.  Representative Jeff Duncan (SC-3) disagreed with the other two panelists on some issues.

The panel “Climate: What Tom Steyer Won’t Tell You,” focused on the climate change hoax and the millions of jobs lost due to green energy legislation, regulations, and subsidies to solar, wind, and biofuel power, and the billions lost in grants and loans to failed renewables companies. Representative Bill Flores (TX-17) focused on six points of the climate change agenda:

1.      It kills jobs.

2.      It costs trillions of dollars.

3.      It is based on junk science.

4.      It uses fantasy technology.

5.      It manipulates the cost/benefit data.

6.      It fails the smell test.

Myron Ebell of the Competitive Enterprise Institute presented charts of actual temperature data and CO2 data that have been manipulated to fit the climate change agenda and their outlandish claims. Andrew Langer of the Institute for Liberty presented more factual information on the true cost of the faux global warming. Gary Broadband of the Murray Energy Corporation, a mining company in Ohio that employs 7,500 people, presented sobering data on the number of coal mines that have been closed or are in the process of closing due to the EPA excessive and stringent regulations, leaving thousands of miners without jobs and contributing to a shortage of electricity and higher utility prices.

When Gov. Scott Walker took the stage, the room went wild. He was heckled again by a lone person unhappy with his reforms that put Wisconsin on the path to financial recovery, solvency, tax reductions, and accountability from unions. Unintimidated, Walker said, “those voices can’t drown out the voices of hard-working taxpayers.”

The most salient point of the day was Walker’s statement that, what made America exceptional throughout history, were Americans who had cared more about the future of their children and grandchildren than they cared about their political careers and re-elections. Today we have Washington, up the Potomac River, he mused, “68 square miles surrounded by reality.”

We should not measure success by how many people are dependent on government, he said. We celebrate our independence from government, not dependence on government; that is why we have 4^th of July.

“We must have a President that understands that radical Islamic terrorism is a threat to our lives. We must take a fight to them, not wait until they bring the fight to America. We need a leader who will stand with Israel” and a leader who will show our allies respect.

Gov. Bobby Jindal was received with tremendous enthusiasm and applause. He focused his speech on the need to fight terrorism. He said, ISIS fighters must be “hunted down and killed.” He criticized the administration severely for failing to recognize the enemy and address the Islamist problem. He said, “We don’t need a war on international poverty, we need a war on the evil radical Islamic terrorism.”

Former Gov. Sarah Palin (AK) and Nigel Farage, leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) concluded the lineup of speakers for day one at CPAC 2015.

Copyright: Ileana Johnson 2015

 

 

 

 

 

CPAC 2015

The American Conservative Union will hold its annual conference, CPAC 2015, on February 25-28, at Gaylord Hotel in National Harbor, Maryland.

“Founded in 1964, the American Conservative Union (ACU) is the oldest and largest grassroots conservative organization in the nation. For more than forty years, ACU has served as an umbrella organization harnessing the collective strength of conservative organizations fighting for Americans who are concerned with liberty, personal responsibility, traditional values, and strong national defense. As America's premier conservative voice, ACU is the leading entity in providing conservative positions on issues to Congress, the Executive Branch, State Legislatures, the media, political candidates, and the public.”

The ACU Foundation, which was established in 1973, has a primary mission to inform, inspire, motivate, and reach out to those who are conservatives, especially young Americans. It is refreshing to see large groups of Americans break out into sessions of interest and workshops. Educating voters and office-holders, the conference strives to offer solutions to current problems that face the nation.

From thoughtful discussions, workshops, and panel questions and answer sessions emerge solutions that would work best for our country when and if they are applied.

Speakers include conservative media personalities such as Laura Ingraham, conservative members of State legislatures, current governors like Scott Walker, former governors such as Jeb Bush, Sen. Marco Rubio, Rep. Diane Black, Sen. Ben Sasse, and other leaders who influence conservative thought and key policy issues. Potential presidential candidates for 2016 and their platforms will be evaluated and vetted by the public and a straw poll will take place. Dr. Ben Carson will help launch the ACU Activism Boot Camp.

ACU’s Chairman Schlapp said, “Republican presidential nomination starts here.” ACU Foundation’s Chairman, Carly Fiorina, stated that she supports candidates focused on job creation and economic growth policy. “Grassroots individual empowerment” is an important goal to pursue.
http://conservative.org/acu_personnel/carly-fiorina/#sthash.omzqAWhy.dpuf

ACU describes on its website their mission:

“We aim to elevate policy discussion and inform Americans on issues across the spectrum, with the annual Conservative Action Political Action Conference, policy roundtable events across the country and our annual ratings of Congress and state legislatures. Our inaugural Center for Criminal Justice Reform will be joined by several more centers in the coming year, ranging from the humanities to defense policy.” http://conservative.org/#sthash.rvkTha6p.dpuf

The Reagan Dinner this year will open with Janine Stange who is known for singing our National Anthem in all 50 states.

Participants from the media include Mark Levin, Sean Hannity, Phil Robertson, Dana Loesch, Laura Ingraham, and Donald Trump.

Other speakers include Nigel Farage, a member of the European Parliament for the South East region of the UK and leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP).

Former and current politicians, former Ambassador John Bolton, former Governor of Florida Jeb Bush, Governor Bobbi Jindal of Louisiana, former Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin, Sen. Rand Paul, Governor Mike Pence, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, NRA’s Wayne LaPierre, Heritage Foundation’s President Jim DeMint, Rep. Mia Love, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, Rick Santorum, Sen. Joni Ernst, and Governor Rick Perry round the speakers roster.

The topics of discussion will include immigration, porous and insecure borders, amnesty, cyber security, Internet, national debt, elections, unemployment, national security, and the global threat of jihad.