Continuing his pattern of flip-flopping on immigration, Scott Walker is now back in full flop mode as his presidential campaign kicks into high gear, joining other pro-mass deportation Republican governors in a lawsuit against President Obama over his executive action on immigration.
In a statement released yesterday, Walker announced that Wisconsin would join 16 other states in a lawsuit seeking to block the President’s executive action on immigration. House Republicans have repeatedly blocked immigration reforms in recent years; the President’s order helps keep families together by guaranteeing protection from deportation and the right to work for millions of people.
Walker has a history of flip-flopping on immigration, particularly in election years. As a candidate for governor in 2010, Walker initially opposed Arizona’s controversial immigration law, SB 1070, that allowed local police officers to stop and search individuals they suspected were in the country illegally, but quickly walked back his stance following pressure from the far-right and an attack from his primary opponent. Walker then promised if elected to sign into law an Arizona-style bill, a Promise Broken according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s PolitiFact.
In December 2012, as his national profile continued to rise, Walker stated he opposed an Arizona-style bill as it would be a “distraction” from jobs and the economy, although he stopped short of promising to veto such a bill. Just a couple of months later, in February 2013, Walker joined the national conversation on immigration again when a Politico story reported that he supported a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Again amid a conservative backlash, Walker quickly walked back his comments, stating that he opposed a pathway to citizenship.
“Scott Walker has made his beliefs on immigration perfectly clear over the years — he supports whatever position makes him most electable to Tea Party extremists,” Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate said Thursday. “Millions of families would be devastated by the mass deportations that Walker apparently supports. It’s terrible that Walker and J.B. Van Hollen are signing Wisconsin onto this embarrassing stunt of a lawsuit to score political points.”
