ThinkProgress Logo

Stories tagged with “Kris Kobach”

NEWS FLASH

Romney Holds Fundraiser With Anti-Immigrant Activist Kris Kobach | Mitt Romney held a fundraiser in Kansas City, Missouri last night with hundreds of supporters and several local officials, including Kansas Secretary of State Kirs Kobach, Romney’s informal immigration adviser. Kobach is a controversial figure who authored the harsh anti-immigrant laws in Arizona, Alabama, and South Carolina and has become the leading spokesperson of the hardcore restrictionist immigration movement. The Romney campaign apparently tried to sever ties with Kobach last month after using him to win over conservatives in the primary, but Kobach told ThinkProgress that he is still a key policy adviser to the campaign. Romney’s PAC was also one of the biggest donors to Kobach’s campaign.

By Alex Seitz-Wald on May 11, 2012 at 2:37 pm

Justice

Poll: Only One In Ten Americans Agree With Romney’s Immigration Advisor’s Absolutist Position On DREAM

By Ian Millhiser on May 9, 2012 at 2:40 pm

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is the author of Arizona and Alabama’s harsh immigration laws and an advisor to GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney on immigration policy issues. He also told ThinkProgress that any law providing legal status to a class of undocumented immigrants would be unacceptable “amnesty.” According to a new National Journal poll, however, this view places Romney’s immigration advisor far outside the American mainstream:

The survey also tested attitudes toward dealing with young people brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents. Asked what should be done with young people brought here illegally who are attending college or have enlisted in the military, a 49 percent plurality agreed that Congress should allow them to remain in the country “and guarantee them that they can become American citizens if they complete their studies or military service.” Another 35 percent said that Washington should instead allow them to remain here and “apply for citizenship … but not guarantee them that they can become American citizens.”

The question did not identify the partisan sponsors, but the first option summarizes the Democrats’ existing Dream Act, and the second, the alternative that Republican star Rubio is drafting. Democrats strongly preferred the first option, while independents did so narrowly, and Republicans split almost evenly between the two. Hispanics heavily preferred the Democratic option, which also drew support from a slight majority of African-Americans and a narrow plurality of whites. Only one-in-10 of those polled (and even just one-in-seven Republicans) said that those young people should not be allowed to remain here. Similarly, just 17 percent said that the government should deport all of the illegal immigrants here “no matter how long” they have lived in the country; that’s down from 25 percent last December.

Mr. Romney, meanwhile, appears caught between his advisor and the watered down bill favored by Sen. Rubio. Rather than decide between these two unpopular options, Romney should do the right thing which, in this case, also happens to be the most politically popular thing.

Election

Etch A Sketch: Romney Camp Concedes Kobach Is Adviser; Kobach Concedes Romney Wants SB-1070 Nationwide

By Alex Seitz-Wald on Apr 20, 2012 at 5:23 pm

As Mitt Romney pivots to the general election and tries to close his big deficit with Latino voters, his campaign spent this week apparently backtracking on two key aspects of its controversial immigration policy. But it now appears to have come back full circle to its original positions.

First, the campaign tried to distance itself from controversial immigration activist Kris Kobach, the author of Arizona and Alabama’s harsh anti-immigration laws. Romney had touted Kobach as an informal adviser, but this week said he was merely a “supporter” not an “adviser.” ThinkProgress and others spoke with Kobach, who disputed the claim and said he was still advising the campaign, but nonetheless Romney’s staff again stood by their initial statement.

But today, a spokesperson agreed in an email to CNN that Kobach is indeed an “informal adviser.”

Secondly, the Romney campaign asserted that when the presumed presidential nominee said during a Republican primary debate that Arizona is “a model,” he was referring to the state’s E-Verify law, not its anti-immigration law, the Kobach-backed SB-1070.

But newly-confirmed immigration adviser Kobach disputed this as well. “He stated very publicly that Arizona’s law should be a model for how the federal government enforces its immigration laws. And he’s correct there too,” Kobach told CNN of SB-1070. Indeed, Romney’s “self-deportation” policy shares the same basic approach as Arizona’s law.

Kobach went on to say that he doesn’t expect Romney — who had the harshest immigration policy of any Republican presidential candidate — to moderate his stances at all when facing President Obama. “I think it would be unusual for a national presidential candidate to back away from statements he’s made in debates and he hasn’t shown any sign of doing so,” Kobach said.

Indeed, it will be very hard for Romney, whose PAC was one of the largest donors to Kobach’s campaign for Kansas Secretary of State, to distance himself from his immigration adviser or the law in Arizona.

Related Posts

Justice

Romney Immigration Adviser Kris Kobach Says Mitt Romney Won’t Support GOP DREAM Act

By Amanda Peterson Beadle on Apr 18, 2012 at 2:20 pm

During the GOP presidential primary, Mitt Romney staked out the most extreme position on immigration of any Republican candidate. Romney even campaigned with his immigration policy adviser Kris Kobach, the author of Alabama and Arizona’s harsh immigration laws, on Martin Luther King Day.

Now that Romney is the presumptive nominee, he’s trying to soften his immigration rhetoric to win over Hispanic voters. The Romney campaign even tried to publicly downgrade Kobach from “adviser” to mere “supporter” yesterday — an effort that failed after Kobach refused to play along.

Nor is this the only example of Kobach refusing to let Romney etch-a-sketch away his harsh positions on immigration. After Romney said over the weekend that Republicans need to embrace a Republican DREAM Act to win over Hispanic voters, Kobach told the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent that the former Massachusetts governor will not support any version of the DREAM Act that offers a path to legal status — like the GOP version Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) plans to introduce. And he added that no Republican should support such a proposal:

[Kobach] stated flatly that he didn’t think Republicans — or Romney — should, or would, support any version of the DREAM Act that provides undocumented immigrants with any kind of path to legal status.

If Romney sticks to this — and Kobach said he would — there’s very little room for him to moderate his approach to immigration. In addition to advising Romney on immigration, Kobach is a national GOP voice on the issue, suggesting the right would not permit any move of this kind.

“I’d absolutely reject any proposal that would give a path to legal status for illegal aliens en masse,” Kobach said. “That is what amnesty is. I do not expect [Romney] to propose or embrace amnesty.”

Details of Rubio’s proposed DREAM Act have not been announced, but the first-term senator has outlined a plan that would not offer a direct path to citizenship but would enable them to remain in the country legally. Despite his promise to veto the DREAM Act earlier in his campaign, Romney told a crowd at a private fundraiser that he wants a Republican DREAM Act to make the GOP the party of “opportunity.”

But if Rubio’s plan includes a path to legal status, or if Romney supports a plan that does, then Kobach said it would be an “unacceptable” proposal. “A path to legal status for someone who is here illegally is amnesty by definition,” he said. “It gives the alien what he has stolen.”

Related Posts

NEWS FLASH

Mitt Romney Was Among Top Donors To Immigration Adviser Kris Kobach’s 2010 Campaign | A ThinkProgress review of campaign finance records reveals that Mitt Romney’s Free and Strong America PAC was among the largest donors to Kris Kobach’s successful 2010 campaign for Kansas Secretary of State.  Romney’s PAC contributed $2,000 to the anti-immigrant hardliner’s campaign. Only Kobach himself and six other donors contributed more. Kobach, who is currently advising Romney on immigration issues, is the author of the highly controversial and harmful Arizona and Alabama immigration laws.  Today, Kobach told the Washington Post that he expected Romney to rule out any immigration measure that granted any form of legal status to undocumented immigrants.

NEWS FLASH

Romney Campaign Still Claiming Controversial Immigration Adviser Is Not Adviser | Yesterday, we noted that the Romney campaign appeared to be trying to distance itself from controversial conservative immigration activist Kris Kobach, who had been serving as an informal adviser to the presumed GOP nominee. But when we spoke to Kobach, he denied this, telling ThinkProgress, “my relationship with the campaign has not changed.” He later told NRO that the campaign confirmed to him that he was still and adviser. But when Politico’s Glenn Thrush asked the Romney campaign again about Kobach’s claim that he’s still working with Romney, a spokesperson had, no comment other than to stand by the claim that Kobach is merely a “supporter,” rather than adviser to the campaign.

By Alex Seitz-Wald on Apr 18, 2012 at 10:58 am

Election

Kobach Contradicts Romney Campaign, Says He Regularly Advises Senior Staff On Immigration Policy

By Alex Seitz-Wald on Apr 17, 2012 at 3:14 pm

Mitt Romney had the harshest immigration policy in the GOP field, and one of the nation’s most influential anti-immigration activists, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, as a key unpaid adviser on the issue. Kobach is the author of Arizona’s and Arizona’s controversial immigration laws.

When Kobach endorsed the former Massachusetts governor, Romney said in a press release that he was excited to have “Kris on the team.” “I look forward to working with him to take forceful steps to curtail illegal immigration,” Romney added. Romney also campaigned with Kobach in South Carolina.

But Politico’s Glenn Thrush reports today that the Romney campaign appears to be distancing itself from the controversial adviser as it pivots to the general election and seeks to appeal to Hispanic voters:

When I asked Boston if Kobach was still an “adviser,” a Romney spokesperson emailed back: “supporter.”

However, Kobach disputes this claim. Reached by ThinkProgress this afternoon, Kobach said, “No, my relationship with the campaign has not changed. Still doing the same thing I was doing before.” Asked what that entails, he said, “providing advice on immigration policy.” “I don’t want to go into great detail, but I communicate regularly with senior members of Romney’s team,” he explained.

He said he didn’t want to respond to the Thrush’s report, as he hadn’t read it yet.

“Como se dice ‘Etch a Sketch’ en espanol?” Thush quipped.

Update

Kobach tells the National Review that the campaign confirmed to him that he’s still an adviser and “nothing’s changed.”

NEWS FLASH

Nativist Gov. Jan Brewer Endorses Romney | On Meet the Press this morning, Gov. Jan Brewer (R-AZ) endorsed Mitt Romney for President. Although Brewer offered little explanation for her decision, citing only Romney’s “pro-business background” and his “political history,” it is not the least bit surprising that one of the nation’s leading nativist politicians is now backing Romney. Brewer signed SB 1070, the first of a wave of anti-immigrant bills authored by Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach (R), who has also endorsed Romney. Romney also campaigned with Kobach on Martin Luther King Day, despite the fact that Kobach is an attorney with the legal arm of an organization the Southern Poverty Law Center designates a “nativist hate group.” Watch Brewer’s endorsement:

NEWS FLASH

After Working For Anti-Immigrant Hate Group, Kobach Denies Working For A Group That ‘Supports Racial Discrimination’ | Critics have attacked Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the anti-immigrant official who wrote Arizona and Alabama’s harmful immigration policies, for his ties to Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a Southern Poverty Law Center-designated hate group that promotes anti-immigrant policies. But Kobach, who worked for FAIR’s legal arm, the Immigration Reform Law Institute, claimed in a Salon interview that he had never worked for a racist organization. “I have not done any legal work for any organization that expresses or supports racial discrimination, nor will I ever do so in the future,” he said. Kobach also claimed that he was unfamiliar with FAIR’s founder John Tanton’s viewpoints. The SPLC has heavily documented FAIR’s white supremacist history and Tanton’s racist comments, including questioning the “educability” of Latinos.

By Amanda Peterson Beadle on Feb 24, 2012 at 9:30 am

NEWS FLASH

Kobach-Supported Immigration Bills Stall In Kansas Legislature | Legislative leaders in Kansas say several strict immigration proposals are stalled after four days of hearings about the bills, including testimony from Secretary of State Kris Kobach. The anti-immigrant official wrote Arizona’s and Alabama’s harmful immigration policies, and he has urged his own state to pass similar measures. But Republican Senate President Steve Morris said he does not think there is support for the harsh measures in the Senate. And House Speaker Mike O’Neal (R) said he did not want to pass a law that would guarantee a lawsuit. “I don’t have a burning desire to address immigration this year,” O’Neal said.

By Amanda Peterson Beadle on Feb 22, 2012 at 1:10 pm

Older

Newer

Switch to Mobile
ThinkProgress Signup Overlay Skip and Continue to ThinkProgress Skip and Continue to ThinkProgress

Sign Up