Opinion

Walker Self-Deports Right Out Of The 2016 Race

The Tech Guys Technology Investors
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Scott Walker claimed the early lead in the “self-deportation” GOP presidential primary sweepstakes. Walker called for a reduction in legal immigration. This is bad for America, contrary to American values, and harmful to GDP, jobs, and tax revenue — in Silicon Valley and throughout the country. Legal immigrants and illegal immigrants add economic and cultural value to this country in all sectors, not just technology. For one example, Walker can look above his name in recent polls to the son of a hotel bartender and a hotel housekeeper.

Walker is not impressed with immigrant-founded businesses like Google, AT&T, and midwestern neighbor Procter & Gamble. Perhaps he would like to deport Kohl’s, the third largest company in Wisconsin, back to Poland?

According to the Americas Society/Council of the Americas, immigrants started 28 percent of all new U.S. businesses in 2011, employing one in ten U.S. workers. What exactly would happen to those jobs if we clamped down on those companies’ ability to operate?

It is also offensive to the legal immigrants of his home state in Wisconsin. What exactly should they do since their governor is running for president on a platform to reduce their right to work? Self-deport?

We also note Governor Walker’s message to immigrant students in the Wisconsin public university system: take your diploma and go home. Don’t build your Google’s here. Americans have grown accustomed to GOP Governors, such as Rick Perry, competing to attract jobs and job creators to their states, not to intentionally drive them away.

Even Mitt Romney, who self-deported himself out of a winnable 2012 election said, “If someone comes here and gets a PhD in physics, that’s the person I’d like to staple a green card to their diploma, rather than saying to them to go home.”

University of Wisconsin — Madison’s PhD graduation is May 15, 2015. We recommend Governor Walker attend and staple a plane ticket to the diplomas.

Before a President Walker can harm American job creation and legal immigrants as president, he would need to prevail in a general election. Mitt Romney recorded 27 percent of the Latino vote in his 2012 loss, a 17 percent free fall from President Bush’s 44 percent Latino vote count in his 2004 win. Good luck in 2016, candidate Walker.

Walker appears to feel that Romney’s call for self-deportation wasn’t effective enough in driving away Latino voters. After all, Romney still collected 27 percent. Maybe Walker is making a play for 0 percent of the growing Latino & Asian-American vote? Perhaps Walker plans to erect Joe Kennedy Senior’s get-out-the-vote machine and harvest 150 percent of the white vote?

Walker apparently feels the 2012 anti-immigration GOP circular firing squad didn’t go far enough. After all, the anti-immigration rhetoric from Romney, Cain, and Santorum aimed at restricting illegal immigration, with touchy feely approaches like electric fences. That’s not enough for Walker. He wants to restrict legal immigration, something even anti-immigration hawks like Senator Cruz want to increase.

In Governor Walker’s own recent words (underline is from Tech Guys):

“In terms of legal immigration, how we need to approach that going forward is saying – the next president and the next Congress need to make decisions about a legal immigration system that’s based on, first and foremost, on protecting American workers and American wages… It is a fundamentally lost issue by many in elected positions today – what is this doing for American workers looking for jobs, what is this doing to wages, and we need to have that be at the forefront of our discussion going forward.”

Like most technology people, The Tech Guys are pro-immigration. We published several pro-growth pro-immigration op-eds during the 2012 cycle. Many Daily Caller readers don’t agree with Tech Guys on immigration policy. But the politics of not demonizing legal immigrants while running for POTUS are pretty obvious. Since Walker needs tips on the basics of a national campaign, we also recommend Walker not opine on the legitimacy of rape or compare homosexuality to bestiality.

The timing of Walker’s self-deportation from the general election is curious. Walker and Rubio had spent April 2015 surpassing Jeb Bush as the most plausible nominees. Why did Walker self-deport now? Maybe, like Gary Hart and Howard Dean before him, he doesn’t really want the nomination? Or like Mitt Romney in 2012, he wants the nomination but doesn’t want the Presidency? Regardless, the Tech Guys recommend Walker heed the wise words of Bill Ray Valentine and get… out.