https://youtube.com/watch?v=vuRQGLPY6VU
The immigration debate and the president’s handling of the situation over the past couple of years have prompted Scott Walker to change his mind on the issue, particularly when it comes to citizenship for those in the country illegally, the Wisconsin governor said on Fox News Sunday.
“My view has changed — I’m flat out saying it, candidates can say that,” he told Chris Wallace in an interview from this week’s Conservative Political Action Conference.
Walker’s immigration policy has come under scrutiny in recent weeks as he has emerged as a leading contender in early primary polls. Last month, National Review reported that Walker signed a resolution while Milwaukee County executive indicating support for comprehensive immigration reform; Politico followed up with its own report that Walker signed a similar resolution in 2006 signaling support for the McCain-Kennedy immigration reforms. A 2013 editorial-board meeting with the Wausau Daily Herald newspaper in which Walker said it “makes sense” for people in the country illegally to get citizenship if they paid penalties and waiting periods also raised questions.
But Walker said he has “absolutely” changed his mind since that 2013 interview.
“I don’t believe in amnesty, and part of the reason I made that a firm position is I look at the way this president has handled this issue,” he said in the Fox News Sunday interview. Along with speaking with border-state governors, Walker said he believes the best approach for dealing with the nation’s immigration concerns is to secure the border and enforce current immigration laws.
Wallace followed up asking if Walker envisioned any way that those in the country illegally could receive citizenship after paying a penalty.
“I believe that there’s a way you can do that,” Walker responded. “First and foremost, you’ve got to secure that border or none of these plans make sense.”
At CPAC this week, Walker’s speech was one of the most highly anticipated of the conference, and delivered to a packed room that cheered him on as he was confronted by a lone heckler at one point. He finished second in the annual straw poll, just a few point short of three-time winner Kentucky senator Rand Paul.