In 2006, then Indiana Congressman Mike Pence tried to rally the Christian Right behind a punitive and nasty immigration “reform” program that would have forced all undocumented persons in the United States to leave the country. They would then would have to apply for a return “guest worker” visa from a for-profit private-sector system dubbed (with no apparent sense of irony) “Ellis Island Centers.” They could return to the United States after a health screening--and a promise to learn English.
At the 2006 Washington Briefing of the Values Voters Summit, Pence was introduced by Tony Perkins of the Christian Right Family Research Council (FRC) as a “a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican--in that order. “ The Values Voters Summit is the primary national political action training and mobilization convention of Christian Right Republic Party election activists on the state level.
In 2006 Pence, a right-wing Republican with impeccable manners, was leader of the House Conservative Caucus. Pence told the audience that “Washington. DC conservatives would be lost without the FRC.” Pence is currently the Governor of Indiana
Pence said that “the most pressing domestic policy crisis in a generation” was the “crisis of illegal immigration in America.” Pence told the audience that as Christians they should show compassion but also “reflect as believers in the obligation to do justice to stand for law and order, and the principles upon which our nation and the Constitution were founded.”
Pence referenced the poem by Emma Lazarus about welcoming immigrants, which is is engraved on the base of the Statue of Liberty near the old Ellis Island immigration center. Pence then linked Christian compassion for immigrants to respect for law and order and justice.
He then articulated four key principles for conservatives on immigration.
Pence said the first principle was that “in our commitment to justice we must recognize, as President Ronald Reagan said, that a nation without borders is not a nation. We must do border security first.
[applause]
“In the interest of the integrity of our economy, in the interest of the protection of our families and communities, men and women, we must achieve operational control of our border. And truthfully, given the failure of our government to do this over the past generation we must insist that it be done first—before any new program is begun.
[applause]
“A second principle in defense of justice and our system of laws--I believe we must reject amnesty in any form; and re-assert the principle that the only way into the United States is by applying outside the United States for the legal right to be here. We must say ‘no’ to amnesty.”
“But thirdly and in this order, once we have secured our borders, and they are verifiably secured; and once we have rejected amnesty, then I will say—not without controversy—that I believe we should create a new guest worker program without amnesty…and without creating a new massive federal bureaucracy. And we must require participants in this program to learn our native tongue. (pauses in the original)
[applause]
“And finally I know there are many prosperous men and women in this room; many entrepreneurs and business owners, and so I say this from the heart, but I know it cuts close to home.”
“We must end these four principles with those kinds of measures that will ensure a full partnership between American business and the American government in defense of our borders and our immigration laws. We must have fines and penalties and an employee enrollment system that brings with it the integrity that our employers require and our people expect in the American marketplace.”
[applause]
“Of these principles… I [have] sat down in the past months with many of my colleagues in the House and the Senate—but none more often that Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas. And she and I managed to build what has come to be known as the ‘Hutchison-Pence Compromise.’ It builds on the four elements that I just described; and I extol it to your attention.”
“It is a program that puts border security first and exclusively for two years—at the end of which, when the President of the United States verifies that the border security measures are done, it initiates outside the United States; a private-sector-based new system of what we call ‘Ellis Island Centers.’”
“For people in this country or outside this country--who have a desire to work in America under the color of the law can go and be processed in an orderly way--a background check, a health screening, confirming their employment—and they [are then] issued a two-year guest worker visa, with their commitment that they will learn our language and obey our laws”
“It is a proposal that has had some critics, but it [has] also had its supporters, and I have been very humbled to receive the support of the likes of Chuck Colson, Newt Gingrich, Dick Armey, David Keene of the American Conservative Union…and I extol it to your attention.”
Mike Pence can repackage Donald Trump's racist and xenophobic anti-immigrant bile with a cheerful smile.
