Today, at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on immigration reform, the Ranking Minority member, Chuck Grassley, invited Kris Kobach, the former General Counsel of FAIR, the author of Arizona’s SB 1070, the architect of self-deportation and the immigration advisor to Mitt Romney, to testify.
Senator Dick Durbin asked Kobach a series of questions about the DREAM Act and reminded Kobach of his role in creating the self-deportation strategy. During the interaction, Kobach, not only indicated he thought DREAMers should self-deport, he offered what will be one of the most memorable lines of the hearing, “Self-deportation is not some radical idea.” In response, Durbin noted, “the voters have the last word. The voters had the last word on self-deportation on November 6th, so we’re beyond that now.” Apparently, Kobach and his anti-immigrant allies are still clinging to that discredited and politically toxic idea.
As Igor Volsky noted, Kobach also testifed that DREAMers should self-deport.
Watch the interaction between Durbin and Kobach. It’s classic.
