By Howard Fischer |Capitol Media Services
Former vice president Mike Pence called last week for limiting legal migration only to those who this country needs and who can support themselves.
“We need to make it clear that the people that are coming into this country can support themselves, support their family,’’ he said during what was in many ways a campaign rally for electing Republicans this fall and a GOP president two years later. And he wants a “merit-based immigration system that puts the interests of America first.’’
Pence, in his first policy speech on immigration since the 2020 election, also said his “freedom agenda’’ calls for:
Finishing the border wall;
Deporting all criminal illegal immigrants and gang members;
Ending “chain migration’’ which allows those already here legally to bring in extended family members;
Banning “sanctuary cities’’ that keep states from cooperating with federal immigration officials;
Eliminating what he said is “asylum fraud’’ by reinstating the “remain in Mexico’’ policy that previously existed and which President Biden scrapped but has been temporarily reinstated while the legality of his action is reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
And Pence said he would shut the door on any talk of creating a path to legal status for the approximately 11 million people in this country illegally.
