Representative Paul Ryan is attempting to stop President Obama making use of trade agreements to allow him to change the immigration laws in the United States. A number of Republican Party members ‒ most notably Senator Jeff Sessions ‒ have warned that the fast-track legislation intended to expedite a major Pacific trade deal is essentially immigration reform via the back door.
If any of the bills fail to pass, the whole initiative ‒ which is one of the president’s major priorities ‒ could come crashing down. Ryan, who is the main proponent of the president’s effort to pass the trade agreements, has already included wording in a customs bill that would prevent Obama taking executive action on immigration reform, with a spokesman saying that Ryan intends to prevent the agreement being fast-tracked if it includes changes to immigration laws.
Ryan has previously claimed that there is no wording in the trade agreements that would advance the president’s agenda on US immigration reform; however, a controversial article from Breitbart News reports that Numbers USA director of government relations Rosemary Jenks claims that some seemingly innocuous language actually reveals the true purpose of the legislation. “This is the smoking gun that shows Paul Ryan wasn’t telling the truth,” WND was told by a Republican aide.
“Reviewing the secret text, plus the secret guidance document that accompanies it, reveals that this new transnational commission – chartered with a ‘living agreement’ clause – would have the authority to amend the agreement after its adoption, to add new members, and to issue regulations impacting labor, immigration, environmental and commercial policy,” Sessions claims.