The House is swearing in one of its newest members of Congress tomorrow, and he’s a supporter of immigration reform with a path to citizenship.
Vance McAllister, soon to be the Representative for the 5th Congressional district of Louisiana, believes that there should be a path to citizenship for the undocumented. According to the Town Talk, which spoke to him on immigration:
McAllister said he would support a path to citizenship for those immigrants already here illegally.
“We have to secure the borders, but (citizenship) has to be attainable for those people already here,” he said. “It has to be a tough path, but it has to be attainable.”
Among the requirements McAllister would advocate: identify yourself; understand and speak English; pay two years in back taxes; obtain a general equivalency diploma; and have a clean criminal record.
“Then we can bring great new citizens to the country,” he said.
McAllister, a political upstart who was not expected to win his race, recently won Louisiana’s special election to replace retired Congressman Rodney Alexander—someone who has earned “A” grades from the restrictionist group NumbersUSA and once voted to end birthright citizenship. When McAllister is sworn in tomorrow, he will be the 29th Republican House member to support immigration reform with a path to citizenship–and from a deep red state, no less. And as Speaker Boehner and the rest of House leadership well know, 29 is more than the number needed to join with Democrats to pass immigration reform through the House this year—if the GOP wanted it.
