Some Members of Congress say they support amnesty for humanitarian reasons. Some say they want to admit more guest workers because there is an economic need. Many claim it\u2019s just the \u201cright thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Few explicitly reveal what\u2019s really going on \u2013 it\u2019s all about the money.<\/p>\n
Last week<\/a>, Senate and House \u201cgang\u201d members participated in an event hosted by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute. Eight Democrats and two Republicans (Senator John McCain and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart) attended.<\/p>\n The respective Senate and House panels contained the same platitudes in favor of amnesty and the expansion of legal immigration, but the update on the progress towards a House bill was particularly interesting.<\/p>\n Maybe feeling comfortable in his surroundings and forgetting the event was streaming live over the internet, Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) took the opportunity to get a little boastful about the prospects of amnesty legislation:<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s virtually nobody organized against comprehensive immigration reform\u2026We have the growers and the farm works. When we have the AFL-CIO and the Chamber of Congress agreeing. We have the high-tech industry\u2026\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n What a resounding endorsement for amnesty and mass immigration! Naturally the organizations and industries that stand to profit the most have expressed support for the Senate amnesty bill. The AFL-CIO<\/a> and other struggling unions are eyeing potential dues paying members. The agricultural industry wants a guest worker program that makes it even easier to attract foreign workers for substandard pay. And the Chamber of Commerce<\/a> and the tech industry<\/a> are clamoring to hire skilled and non-skilled workers from overseas<\/a> to do jobs unemployed and underemployed Americans would do for a just compensation.<\/p>\n More disturbing is Rep. Yarmuth\u2019s second reason for being optimistic about amnesty:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/i>\u201cAnd probably the most significant factor is there is no money on the other side of this issue. There\u2019s nobody out there ready to spend $100 million to defeat comprehensive immigration reform.<\/i><\/p>\n In fact, all the money is on the side of pushing it. And just a couple weeks ago we met with Mark Zuckerberg from Facebook and he\u2019s raised, well, a lot of his own money, but he\u2019s raised $50 million to run ads supporting people who will support comprehensive immigration reform and to pressure people who may be on the fence<\/b>.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n So, politics-as-usual prevails in Washington, but here we have a Member of Congress actually admitting that money talks. Forget about representing constituents, Americans, even legal residents \u2013 Zuckerberg has $50 million to run ads against you if you don\u2019t support amnesty for illegal aliens and a massive influx of legal workers that will make his industry even more profitable.<\/p>\n Rep. Yarmuth closed by saying:<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I think the most compelling thing that he said when we met with him was \u2013 and he raised this from his buddies in the high-tech industry \u2013 but he said they didn\u2019t give money to this cause because of economic reasons. They gave it because of humanitarian reasons. And that\u2019s really significant.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Keep telling yourself that, Zuckerberg. You and the young Silicon Valley set who have donated to Zuckerberg\u2019s FWD.us<\/a> claim to be compassionate millennials, but clearly you should get off your high horses. Admit that you\u2019re no better than the big business leaders who came before you \u2013 using money and threats to put big business interests before Americans.<\/p>\n