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* UPDATED x1 * Rauner’s shift on illegal immigration

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* 2014 Bruce Rauner candidate op-ed published in Hoy…

President Obama has deported more immigrants that any other president, causing extremely painful family hardships and hurting our economy. When Democrats controlled Congress and held the White House in 2009-10, they had the chance to pass immigration reform, as President Obama promised he would, and yet they did nothing. The humanitarian crisis at the border today cries out for leadership that is lacking.

Unfortunately, my own Republican Party is even more to blame. Too many Republicans in Washington choose to ignore the problem. Even worse, some Republicans are downright hostile to immigrants, failing to recognize that America’s past, present, and future would not be nearly as bright and prosperous without our culture and heritage of immigration.

Not all Republicans are that way. In March, I attended a pro-immigration reform rally in Chicago along with former Illinois Governors Jim Edgar and Jim Thompson and former U.S. House Speaker from Illinois Dennis Hastert, all Republicans. Republican Illinois Senator Mark Kirk voted in favor of last year’s bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill in the U.S. Senate. […]

I will advocate changing our broken national immigration system, to secure our borders and prevent more from entering our country illegally, but also to increase the number of those who can legally come here, and to treat those who are already here in a humane way that preserves families and integrates them into the mainstream of our economy and society. After all, that is the American way.

* More from Hannah Meisel, who also dug up that old Hoy op-ed…

In 2016, Rauner signed a bill that provides cash welfare, state-funded health care and food assistance to undocumented immigrants who were victims of human trafficking, torture or “other serious crimes,” while awaiting federal visas.

* Gov. Rauner yesterday…

Chicagoans want to work. You ask someone in Lawndale, Austin, Englewood whether they want to work. They do. They’re looking for jobs. Those jobs in too many cases are being filled by illegal immigrants. That’s wrong. I support legal immigration. Legal immigration is good and America is built by legal immigrats. But illegal immigration, we have immigration laws for a reason, and Mr. Pritzker has been very clear he says there’s no one here illegally. There’s no such thing as an ‘illegal person.’ That’s just not true. And he said specifically that he supports sanctuary cities and making Illinois a sanctuary state. I do not. We have immigration laws. They should be enforced. And the lack of economic opportunity on the South Side and West Side is a major driver of the violence there and we’ve got to fix that.

*** UPDATE *** Press release…

Bruce Rauner went to Little Village to stand on stage with our community leaders and celebrate Mexican Independence Day September 16. Yesterday, he blamed Chicago crime and statewide unemployment and low wages on “the massive number of illegal immigrants.” In addition, individual leaders offered the following additional comments:

Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia: “Bruce Rauner is unfit to be Governor and a complete disgrace to our great state. He is so desperate to win re-election that he feels compelled to attack a vulnerable group of hard-working people because his administration has been a total failure. I’m going to do everything in my power to vote this Trumpian out of office.”

Illinois State Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza: “All Illinoisans should reject Governor Rauner’s attempt to jump-start his failing re-election campaign by adopting President Trump’s racist and divisive scape-goating of immigrants. Governor Rauner’s gutting of after-school programs and mental health services has far more to do with Chicago’s crime spike than immigrants do. Local and national records show immigrants - both legal and undocumented - commit far fewer crimes than other groups in our country. My immigrant parents brought nothing but a strong work ethic to this country. Governor Rauner’s “Swedish immigrant” grandparents from Wisconsin would be ashamed of him.”

U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Illinois: I never thought that Governor Rauner would shame himself by adopting Donald Trump’s dangerous and divisive lies. This is a new low for Governor Rauner who will now go down in history as a demagogue with no scruples.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Oct 10, 18 @ 2:53 pm

Comments

So utterly disappointing. It seems other than hating unions and Speaker Madigan, the Governor seems to have very little other principles that he’ll stick to when things get rough. I don’t even believe he believes his most recent statements. Pure desperation.

Comment by Veil of Ignorance Wednesday, Oct 10, 18 @ 2:58 pm
So the violence on the south and west side can be blamed on illegal immigrants? I would have assumed it was Madigan’s fault.

Comment by Ole' Nelson Wednesday, Oct 10, 18 @ 3:04 pm
Strange to flip and go-all-Trump on this now.

The primary was razor-close, so I could see doing it then. Doesn’t make any sense now. There is no chance at a plurality in the general going hard for Trump voters.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Oct 10, 18 @ 3:05 pm
It’s pretty likely he’s going to lose. So he wants to go out like a bigot?

Comment by Albany Park Patriot Wednesday, Oct 10, 18 @ 3:05 pm
Just when you thought there might be a tiny amount of good soul, he goes ahead and says this. Your gonna lose guy, go out with dignity, not race baiting

Comment by Buck'n'Irish Wednesday, Oct 10, 18 @ 3:06 pm
==The primary was razor-close, so I could see doing it then. Doesn’t make any sense now.==

I think if he knew how close Ives would actually get, we would have seen more of this.

Comment by Buck'n'Irish Wednesday, Oct 10, 18 @ 3:07 pm
“You ask someone in Lawndale, Austin, Englewood whether they want to work. They do.”

I though the dog whistle was they don’t want to work; just collect welfare.

You can see the Governor is a newbe at this.

Comment by a drop in Wednesday, Oct 10, 18 @ 3:07 pm
Rauner wants something for his $117 million.

One term isn’t enough.

Auditioning for POTUS… maybe an Ambassador somewhere…

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Oct 10, 18 @ 3:08 pm
Just when you thought Rauner had hit rockbottom.

You gotta figure he was going to get atleast 42 percent of the Latino vote….this is not how you make the dlosing argument.

I agree with Oswego Willy, he’s practically panhandling for Ambassador to Italy.

Comment by Thomas Paine Wednesday, Oct 10, 18 @ 3:14 pm
He is just throwing stuff at the wall to see if anything sticks. Unfortunately for Bruce, the wall is made of Teflon now. Way to little, way to late. “Toast”

Comment by Retired Educator Wednesday, Oct 10, 18 @ 3:17 pm
Rauner’s lack of message discipline in the face of adversity is something. Nothing’s going to stick when you change your campaign theme every few weeks. Of course, trying to imitate Ed Gillespie’s campaign for Virginia Governor isn’t exactly the brightest idea either.

Comment by Nacho Wednesday, Oct 10, 18 @ 3:29 pm
If he’s for legal immigration then he should make sure his state agencies are enrolled in E-verify. When the state as an employer is not on E-verify (currently) he can hire immigrant, legal or not, to work for the state. Why is it that we have a DoIT department filled with non citizen workers, possibly taking good paying Illinois jobs, when absolutely none of them have been run through the E-verify system because we aren’t signed up. Only two reasons
Rauner can take advantage of foreign workers
And skirt the union at the same time. Oh and not have to delay the hiring of foreign scab workers.

Comment by Dave Wednesday, Oct 10, 18 @ 3:33 pm
One of the keys to Rauner’s victory in ‘14 was that middle-of-the-road rhetoric. He also campaigned pretty extensively in African-American communities and won endorsements of prominent black clergy. It didn’t really increase his share of Latino and black votes, but it impeded Quinn’s ability to run up traditional Dem turnout and it helped Rauner win moderate suburban women who don’t like confrontational conservatives.

That was his winning hand. He’s thrown it away. Either he thinks Illinois turned into Mississippi, or he given up.

Comment by Roman Wednesday, Oct 10, 18 @ 3:37 pm
Rauner franticly grasping at straws.

Comment by DuPage Wednesday, Oct 10, 18 @ 3:44 pm
Dave:

You have to show proof of your ability to work in the US if you are a non-citizen.

I see you’re on the Trump anti-immigrant bandwagon with your comments.

BTW - my wife was a green card holding non-citizen for 20 years. Take your nonsense elsewhere.

Comment by Demoralized Wednesday, Oct 10, 18 @ 3:47 pm
Willy - UN ambassador? A terrifying thought for the rest of the world /s

Comment by Ike Wednesday, Oct 10, 18 @ 3:50 pm
- Ike -

Heaven help us all…

If Gidwitz and McCarter can be Ambassadors…

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Oct 10, 18 @ 3:54 pm
I’m beginning to understand why we went nearly three years without a budget. Can you imagine trying to negotiate with this guy?

Comment by Michelle Flaherty Wednesday, Oct 10, 18 @ 4:30 pm
Demoralized- I didn’t communicate that well. I apologize. A woman I know is about to lose her job with the State because her State agency, as almost none of them are, is not on the E verify system. Thus she has to quit her job in order to get a job that is registered with E-verify.
I deeply apologize for my misstatement. But now you have to be verified eventually by E-verify. Rauners agencies absolutely refuse to do this. My comment about DoIT is, as anti immigrant as it sounds is true. They would lose a lot of staff. They are non union, contractors on Personal services contracts. That is why Rauner doesn’t sign up.

Comment by Dave Wednesday, Oct 10, 18 @ 4:30 pm
To the updates,

Rauner is as phony as we all think he is.

It’s not even comical, because Rauner has such little respect for people.

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Oct 10, 18 @ 4:35 pm
Notice that Republicans hardly ever talk about going after going after the businesses that hire illegal immigrants. All of the focus is always on the immigrants themselves.

They don’t actually care that illegal immigrants make up a class of workers that are ripe for exploitation because they’re desperate and have no legal recourse. They love having an exploitable working class. That’s why they like weakening labor laws.

They never propose real solutions to the immigration problem because illegal immigrants give them a way to stir up racial hatred and get working class people to divide and vote against themselves.

Comment by TaylorvilleTornado Wednesday, Oct 10, 18 @ 4:55 pm
Immigrants didn’t stop Munger from being hired for random do nothing jobs.

Comment by DeseDemDose Wednesday, Oct 10, 18 @ 7:59 pm
Waiting for Tim Schneider to resign.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Oct 10, 18 @ 8:35 pm
Oswego Willy @ 3:08 pm

Exactly right.

Comment by Cheswick Wednesday, Oct 10, 18 @ 9:50 pm
“Why is it that we have a DoIT department filled with non citizen workers, possibly taking good paying Illinois jobs.”

Why do you care if someone took the citizen test or not? If they live here and are legal and they pay taxes how is it a problem for you?

Comment by 17% Solution Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:51 am
Some of that flat tax protection racket, wealthy job creators spreading the wealth to the poor

Comment by Rabid Thursday, Oct 11, 18 @ 7:56 am