I just wish John Boehner . . . before he leaves, [would try to pass] the immigration [amnesty] bill passed in a bipartisan fashion by the Senate. . . . If that came to a vote, we would have the immigration fight behind us in this presidential election, leaving only the racists to talk about it. Everyone else would say . . . that was a darn good compromise. We’re going to have requirements so people no longer are being hired illegally. There’s going to be some kind of way to be a citizen overtime with a lot of obstacles, but you can get there. . . . [W]e’re a democracy here. . . . But we also want to stop the incentives of people coming into the country to get jobs illegally. – Real Clear Politics, Boehner Should Try to Pass Immigration Reform before He Leaves, Chris Matthews, 9/25/15
Fact Check: Liberal commentator Chris Matthews hopes that retiring House Speaker John Boehner will try to slip through an amnesty before he leaves. Matthews sees failure to pass amnesty as a failure of democracy. Actually the House didn’t pass amnesty, as the Senate did, because of intense grassroots pressure. That’s democracy.
If Matthews is bothered by lack of democracy he should set his sights on President Obama’s arbitrary proclamation of legal status for illegal aliens (but not citizenship). That’s an explicit attack on democratic constitutional government.
Matthews’ suggests that only “racists” oppose amnesty for illegal aliens. Like so many of his pro-amnesty persuasion, he seems to think that “illegal” is a race rather than a legal status. But if racism indeed concerns him, he definitely should consider the racial and ethnic chauvinism that drives the pro-amnesty side. There, well-funded organizations like the National Council of La Raza (the Race) push an obvious agenda of advancing Hispanic power at the expense of other groups, even it if means undermining our rule of law to do so.
Also, he might want to consider the Hispanic supremacist sentiments of Congressman Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), the most vocal and strident voice in the House for amnesty and other benefits for illegal aliens. Gutierrez once stated, “I have only one loyalty, and that’s to the immigrant community.” By his own admission, it appears, he is neither loyal to the United States nor to the common interests of its citizens.
Matthews deserves credit, however, for recognizing that illegal immigration poses difficulties for working Americans, many of them poor and disadvantaged. Those difficulties include competition for jobs and wage suppression. But how can amnesty, which he advocates, be anything but an incentive for more illegal immigration? Indeed, the most effective way to encourage an activity is to reward it. And the record shows that amnesties and proposals for amnesty usually precede new surges of illegal immigration.