What changed this week in how the Presidential Hopefuls stack up in protecting American workers from harmful immigration policies?
We brought out our giant immigration grid for Presidential Hopefuls just two weeks ago. As promised, our Ratings Committee has met each Friday to consider all new statements, as well as any other information that you readers have brought to our attention. Each week, we look to see whether any of that qualifies to change a rating on one of the 10 categories of the grid, and whether those rating changes require a change in the overall worker-protection grade.
(You can read the quotes, comments and citations for yourself by clicking on the photo of a candidate on the big grid at:
www.NumbersUSA.com/2016.)
On our Grade Cards, we include every politician who was shown with at least 1% support in the average of polls done by Real Clear Politics in May. We add politicians when they show up for the first time with 1% support.
HOPEFULS EARNED THESE CHANGES THIS WEEK:
.
BIGGEST IMPROVEMENT -- HUCKABEE. Raised his rating in the "Reduce Unfair Work-Visa Competition" category from Unhelpful to GOOD.
He made a spirited defense of American tech workers and decried inhuman practices by businesses such as Disney in replacing American workers with foreign workers.
HONORABLE MENTION -- CHRISTIE. Rose from Good to VERY GOOD on "Mandate E-Verify-Plus."
He was much more explicit and emphatic about mandating that all employers use E-Verify to keep illegal foreign workers from holding U.S. jobs.
WORST ABANDONMENT OF WORKERS' INTERESTS -- O'MALLEY & HUCKABEE. Both fell from Unhelpful to ABYSMAL on "Overall Reduction in Annual Immigration."
O'Malley promised to be much more assertive than Pres. Obama in passing "comprehensive immigration reform," which has always included large increases in the current million-a-year immigration, with that level doubled by the most recent CIR bill.
Huckabee made a somewhat surprising statement in the middle of an interview about the abuse of H-1B and other work-related visas. He said that " we focus too much on how many people are coming--I think the focus needs to be on why people are coming" when asked about the connections between immigration policy and wages for American workers. "Do they come here because they believe in what America stands for and opportunities? Do they want to be part of this great country and accept the responsibility for helping to make it great? Then goodness, let's get as many people here as want to come." We have failed in our efforts thus far to get a clarification on whether Huckabee truly believes in virtually unlimited immigration of the right kind of people. Until then, he earns the ABYSMAL rating in this category.
MORE BACKSLIDING -- O'MALLEY & CHRISTIE.
O'Malley fell from Harmful to VERY HARMFUL on "Oppose Work Permits for Illegal Immigrants" as he noted that he would be more reliable in getting legalization than Clinton, who has said she would be much more expansive than Obama on the matter.
Christie fell from 1st Steps to MIXED on "Prevent Illegal Border Entries & Surges" after ridiculing fences as part of the solution for border security.
TWO BRAND NEW CANDIDATES -- CHAFEE & TRUMP.
Lincoln Chafee arrived on the scene this week saying almost nothing about immigration. But with a long-ago anti-worker-protection record in Congress and a recent horrible record as governor, he earned a starter overall Worker-Protection Immigration Grade of F.
Donald Trump arrived with flourishes of rhetoric in speech and book that leave a lot of holes. Nonetheless, they qualify Trump for an overall Grade of C+.
TOP OVERALL GRADES OF 22 HOPEFULS (June 5, 2015):
None of the changes in category ratings resulted in a change in the overall grade of the previous list of 20 Hopefuls. With Trump added, the Top 5 immigration Hopefuls at this moment are:
A for Santorum
B- for Walker
C+ for Trump
C for Perry
C for Cruz
We will be reading our emails from you and watching the news closely over the next seven days for continuing signs of what we would get from each of these Hopefuls if elected President. As always, keep in mind that our grades in no way imply an endorsement of a candidate but rather provide you what we believe to be the best look at how each measures up on the single issue of immigration policy and its effect on the wages and employment of American workers.
ROY BECK is Founder & President of NumbersUSA
