A battle is brewing inside the Republican Party between moderate and some long-standing conservatives pushing for a “pathway to legal status” for millions of illegal immigrants as backlash grows over the fatal shootings of anti-ICE protesters in Minnesota.
Conservative elements within the party are up in arms over the suggestion that the incidents in Minnesota, which resulted from protesters intervening in immigration enforcement actions, should result in a relaxation of the nation’s immigration laws.
“No amnesty. No amnesty-lite. No ‘path to citizenship,’” Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) wrote on X Wednesday. “This is a red line. The left has weaponized mass migration for decades – transforming our country economically, culturally and politically. We absolutely cannot codify their lawlessness.”
The response came after high-profile moderate Republicans, including Reps. Mike Lawler of New York and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, floated two separate proposals calling for the modernization of America’s legal system and some sort of “legal protection” or “pathway to legal status” for illegal immigrants. Both also call for reassessing the tactics deployed by Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Lawler was quick to note that his plan is not a “pathway to citizenship under any circumstances for anyone who broke our laws by coming to the United States.”
“We need a legal path forward that allows individuals with U.S.-citizen children and grandchildren to come out of the shadows, pay back taxes and a fine, and contribute—without receiving government benefits,” said Lawler.
Fitzpatrick is teaming up with Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) and asking Trump for a White House meeting to discuss a bipartisan compromise on immigration.
“Mr. President, you have had great success in securing our border,” Fitzpatrick and Suozzi wrote in a letter to Trump on Tuesday. “That success is now being overshadowed by the interior enforcement that has given rise to a growing rejection by the public.”
The idea of providing some sort of legal status for illegal immigrants is drawing support from some surprising corners of the right, not just its moderate-to-centrist faction.
“We need a national conversation about what we do with people who have come here, some of them 20 years ago, who have been obeying the law, paying taxes, good neighbors,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said during a Fox News appearance this week. “Very few Americans want to see the police walk in and deport them.”
The sentiment was echoed by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) during an appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast earlier this month.
“I’m a moderate on this,” Paul said. “I actually think that most of the people that are here and working lawfully and can pass a background check, I would give them no welfare and I would give them no citizenship, no voting privileges. But you can work and we won’t arrest you. … So the compromise is, if you came in illegally, you just don’t get to be a citizen, but you’re kids will be.”
Paul added that he would support deporting some of the illegal immigrants who came in under former President Joe Biden, especially if they were violent.
Conservative critics say the policies promoted by Lawler and Fitzpatrick amount to nothing more than amnesty. The Heritage Foundation, which has been embroiled in controversy over its president’s relationship with Tucker Carlson, specifically put out a statement bashing Lawler’s proposal on Wednesday.
“President Trump and conservative majorities in Congress were elected to end the scourge of mass migration on our country, not to enable more of it and reward those whose first act on American soil was to violate our laws,” the conservative group wrote on social media. “No amnesty proposal should ever see the light of day.”
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Lawler, for his part, said that critics have been “saying this for decades and the problem has gotten worse.”
“If you want to end illegal immigration — secure the border, deport the criminals, and fix the system,” said the New York Republican. “Negotiate a deal that gets conservative wins, including ending sanctuary cities, requiring citizenship to vote, codifying Trump’s border policies, etc. Doing nothing is not a solution. Learn to actually get something signed into law instead of just opposing everything to raise money and gin up support.”