Will Elise Stefanik Correct Her Course on Immigration?

Following a protracted battle
with fellow Home Republicans and an acrimonious break up with Minority Chief
Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) is about to lose her place
because the chair of the Home Republican Convention, the third highest place in
management under the whip and get together chief. Inside days, Home Republicans made
her seemingly substitute crystal clear: Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.)

Rep. Stefanik was first elected in 2014 and was, on the time, the youngest lady ever elected to Congress. She represents the 21^st Congressional District of New York, a largely rural district that takes up many of the northeastern a part of the state. The 21^st district is notable for having supported former President Barack Obama within the 2008 and 2012 elections earlier than turning into solidly Republican. Voters re-elected Stefanik in 2020 with 58.8 % of the vote, and the district’s Cook dinner PVI ranking is R+8. 

Democrats and the mainstream media largely attribute Cheney’s fall from grace to her vocal and continued criticism of former President Donald Trump following the occasions of January 6^th. She beforehand survived a vote to take away her from Republican management in February, with the help of McCarthy. Nevertheless, Republican insiders observe that many members – together with those that voted to question Trump – are fed up with Cheney’s management, or lack thereof. Conservative columnist Byron York famous in his Every day Memo that:

“It
got here to a boiling level per week and a half in the past at our retreat [in
Florida] when she’s doing a press convention and she or he’s nonetheless speaking about
January 6 and Donald Trump after we’re all speaking about unifying to defeat
Pelosi’s socialist agenda and win the Home again,” mentioned one Republican.
“At that time it turned clear she’s simply not taken with working with
the remainder of us on a shared purpose.” Rank-and-file members can do no matter
they need, Republicans say, however members of the management ought to at the least
publicly be on the identical web page.

Regardless, Cheney is out and
Stefanik is allegedly in. Not like Cheney, Stefanik supported Trump, voted
in opposition to his impeachment, and voted in opposition to certifying the election outcomes from
Pennsylvania for the 2020 presidential election. However whereas she could come off as
a Trumpist, America-First Republican, she is something however.

Immigration is a key instance. In FAIR’s 116th Congress Voting Report, Rep. Stefanik voted with FAIR solely 75 % of the time – on the decrease finish of Home Republicans she could lead. Cheney, however, voted with FAIR one hundred pc of the time. One other group aligned with FAIR on the immigration challenge, NumbersUSA, grades Stefanik as a profession C-, with a D- this Congress.

It isn’t that Stefanik has been uninterested within the immigration challenge, it’s that she’s been plainly dangerous on it. She voted in favor of unlawful alien farmworker amnesty twice. She voted in favor of the FAIR-opposed “Equity for Excessive-Expert Immigrants Act,” which eliminates per-country caps and ensures that each one future immigration to america comes solely from India and China.

She opposed President Trump’s journey bans and voted in opposition to the nationwide emergency declaration permitting the development of the border wall. She signed a discharge petition to provide DACA recipients a pathway to citizenship and has been a vocal and enthusiastic supporter of importing low-cost, overseas guestworkers into america even on the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic when thousands and thousands of People had been jobless.

This was all as a
rank-and-file member with no management function. However to be in management within the
Republican get together implies that you must reply to the beliefs and convictions
of the individuals you lead. That features each Republican Home members but additionally
the voters who ship these individuals to Washington within the first place.

Republican voters don’t
help changing American staff with cheaper guestworkers. Republican voters
don’t help mass amnesty for unlawful aliens. Republican voters help
constructing the wall and ending the disaster on our southern border.

Stefanik wants to know this
if she goes to be a profitable Republican Convention chair. Having the
help of former President Trump can’t and shouldn’t be the one
prerequisite for Home management. Stefanik might want to really lead by
embracing the rules that animate many of the Home Republican membership.

For all her faults, Cheney was robust on the difficulty of immigration. As immigration stays a principal challenge impacting Home Republicans and their voters, Stefanik might want to embrace the mantle of a real “America First” immigration agenda. FAIR is right here to assist.