Today, after months of proclaiming it has been on “the verge” of revealing a “comprehensive” immigration reform bill, the House Gang of Seven (formerly the Gang of Eight) lost two more members.
Texas Republicans John Carter and Sam Johnson issued a joint press release announcing they were formally leaving the group, “After years of hard work and countless meetings, we have reached a tipping point and can no longer continue working on a broad approach to immigration,” the members wrote.
However, they made clear that they were not abandoning the talks because they no longer agreed with the group’s mission (i.e. amnesty for the 12 million illegal aliens currently in the U.S. and a mass guest worker program), but rather blamed distrust of the Obama Administration’s willingness to faithfully execute any new immigration laws. “We want to be clear,” the pair continued. “The problem is politics. Instead of doing what’s right for America, President Obama time and again has unilaterally disregarded the U.S. Constitution, the letter of the law and bypassed the Congress….”
The Gang already lost another member, Raul Labrador (R-ID) earlier this year, leaving Florida’s Mario Diaz-Balart as the lone Republican of the group. Its Democrat members continue to include Zoe Lofgren (CA), Luis Gutierrez (IL), John Yarmuth (KY), and Xavier Becerra (CA).