Rand Paul on Amnesty: ‘The 11 Million are Never Going Home’

Photo Credit: Fox NewsIn New Hampshire yesterday, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul told a group of supportive Republican legislators that the country needed some immigration fixes. A few hours later, I asked whether, if elected president, Paul would move to overturn the Obama-era executive orders that have essentially legalized millions of immigrants.

“I’ve always been of the opinion that we should do things the proper way,” Paul said. “I am in favor of doing immigration reform, but it should be done in the proper fashion.” He cited the the need to tighten border security before attempting anything else, but added that “the 11 million, I think, are never going home, don’t need to be sent home, and I would incorporate them into our society by giving them work visas and making them taxpayers.”

Meanwhile, back in Washington, the House GOP was voting to defund Obama’s immigration orders. Paul didn’t necessarily disagree with the House objection—at one point, he quoted Montesquieu’s “Spirit of the Laws” to explain why the executive orders couldn’t be sustained. But on policy, he was set apart from more than 200 Republicans ready to undo an order that granted legal status to minors brought into the country by their parents. In the summer of last year, in fact, Paul supported exactly that. And now, as a potential presidential candidate, he wasn’t leading with it. (Read more about Rand Paul on amnesty HERE)

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