Adding to Andrew Stiles’s post about much of the media incorrectly interpreting Boehner’s immigration comments yesterday as a change in his position, Benjy Sarlin at MSNBC reports what the open-borders activists are saying.
While some of them think Boehner really is backing away and announcing the end of the push for amnesty and increased immigration — in the words of one, “The immigrant community can see right through their political games and we won’t stand for them” — others understand that Boehner’s statement was just “part of a kabuki dance to quiet Republican critics.” For instance:
Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, told msnbc in a separate interview on Friday that it was likely Boehner was buying time while leaders worked on a fuller policy proposal to address GOP concerns and dealt with more immediate issues, like the debt ceiling.
“What I heard [Boehner] saying is ‘Let’s keep working immigration through the legislative process, we’ll get to it later in the Spring, but between now and then let’s talk about this nebulous issue of trust,’” he said.
“This nebulous issue of trust” reference suggests my correspondent from yesterday may be right that “He may even have some agreement w Obama where he enforces some random law and Boehner says okay green light.”
And there’s this:
Tamar Jacoby, president of the business-focused ImmigrationWorks USA, suggested there might be something to Boehner’s claim that Obama could boost reform’s chances by acquiescing to Republican demands on unrelated legislation related to trade or medical research.
Really? Wreck the country, and the GOP, in exchange for movement on a medical-research bill? “Unforced errors,” indeed.