Newt Gingrich Opposes 'Gang of Eight's' Immigration Bill

During the 2012 presidential campaign, Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich was outflanked on his right by Mitt Romney on immigration during the primaries. But, with the Gang of Eights" immigration reform bill passing the Senate last month, Gingrich had harsh words for the legislation championed by U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. In an email sent out late Friday, Gingrich praised House conservatives who are poised to kill the bill.

Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor deserve our thanks for having the courage to do the right thing on immigration reform. They are insisting that the legislative process be allowed to improve and fix a badly flawed Senate bill, Gingrich wrote. The House Republican position is exactly right, but it is going to come under attack from every establishment figure who wants a conservative surrender on immigration. House Republicans need to adopt a disciplined, positive answer whenever asked about immigration.

I am opposed to massive bills, Gingrich added. No one understands all the details. They usually become massive by including a lot of special-interest provisions to buy votes. They are often internally contradictory. They usually represent senatorial staff drafting with only vague oversight from elected officials. They often promise many things in vague language and have no effective enforcement mechanisms. It would be far better to pass a series of relatively small, understandable bills written in subcommittee and committee and amended on the floor. In the process of steady incremental reform, each bill could be studied and understood in its own right. Of course, this would require the Senate to consider individual improvements instead of a single gigantic bill.

Gingrich did note that House Republicans needed a better plan on messaging.

House Republicans currently have a problem because they are consistently put in the position of explaining why they are against the Senate bill and then having opposition to the Senate bill interpreted as opposition to immigrants, he wrote. This is a very self-destructive communications strategy and House Republicans need to adopt a new communications strategy on immigration reform. House Republicans have a number of positive things they are for. They should answer every question on immigration by first listing two or three things they want to pass.

Gingrich went on to praise a number of bills passed in the House mandating employers' use of E-Verify, reforming guest worker programs and increasing border security.