Why did Donald Trump win the GOP nomination? Because he promised to put America First. Not in a crudely selfish way, like some dictator stealing land from weaker neighbors. Not even in a classically isolationist sense. Trump didn’t call for the end of NATO. Our troops haven’t come home. You might not agree with his tariffs and other flirtations with protectionism. But he’s not looking for autarky, where we grow and build everything within our borders, disdaining global trade.

No, Trump has made a moderate course correction of our policies in the direction of serving its citizens’ interests. This was long overdue, after 20 years at least of the GOP subordinating our citizens to the service of abstractions. Enough wars to spread democracy where it likely would never grow. Enough trade deals that let the other parties cheat. And quite enough cringing and apologizing for our nation’s history, while dictators and theocrats strut the world stage, boasting.

Our Crackpot Immigration Policies

But more than on any other issue, Trump called a halt to our crackpot immigration policies. To the lawlessness that leaves our southern border the sovereign territory of gangs like MS-13. To arbitrary and foolish attempts to promote “diversity” for its own sake by peddling U.S. citizenship as a prize in a lottery. An end to “catch and release” of illegal immigrants, as if law enforcement were a sport like marlin fishing. Reform of our legal immigration system, which makes it hard for employers to bring in highly qualified workers, but easy for amnestied illegals to import their extended families via “chain migration.” (The euphemism invented by Ted Kennedy for this form of legal nepotism was “family reunification.”)

According to Pew, 81 percent of Latino immigrants favor big-government policies of the rabidly pro-choice Democrats. In brutally practical sense, amnesty equals abortion.

Now the RINOs and cheap labor hirelings in Congress are on the verge of throwing all that away. Of caving to the demands of Congressional Democrats who oppose almost all enforcement of our immigration laws. Whose rhetoric suggests that it’s “racist” to distinguish a legal, U.S. citizen from someone who just snuck in.

Betraying the Voters

Tucker Carlson, a national treasure, laid out the stakes of the upcoming “discharge petition” fight in the House:

Americans of all backgrounds and all ethnicities are deeply skeptical of immigration. They wanted it reduced. Republicans can win elections by listening to them, but they’re not. Congressional Republicans are on the brink of giving amnesty to a huge number of the illegal aliens just in time for the fall election.

Some of these Republicans are plotting with Democrats to give amnesty to every illegal who originally entered this country as a minor,” he continued. “Potentially that is millions and millions of people. In return for that, voters would get nothing — no border wall, no reduction in overall immigration rates, no defunding of sanctuary cities, no abolition of chain migration, which is indefensible. Wages will stay low because it turns out supply and demand is real. Give an overabundance of something including labor, its value falls. Politically more states will go the way of California. So, what exactly is the point of this?

Amidst a tangle of competing bills, some of them solid enforcement laws, it’s quite possible that the GOP House will offer a bill that makes some cosmetic fixes, maybe even offers a partial funding for the border wall. Listen to conservative Rep. Dave Brat discuss the tortured negotiations with National Public Radio.

Each DREAMer Gets to Sponsor His Parents

But make no mistake, if we fail, the price will be high. If we grant citizenship to those whose parents smuggled them into our country (DACA/ “DREAMERs”), each one of those 1.8 million people will be eligible for public assistance. They will vote. And how do you think they will vote? For the party that championed them, or the party whose President wants to build a Wall? For pro-life, pro-religious liberty candidates? Or for left-wing Democrats? Statistics answer that question. According to Pew, 81 percent of Latino immigrants favor big-government policies of the rabidly pro-choice Democrats. In a brutally practical sense, amnesty equals abortion.

Much worse, without a fix to our current system of chain migration, each amnestied illegal will be able to sponsor his family for citizenship. Including the parents who snuck him into the country. What message will that send to the next wave of poor people in Latin America who want to move to the U.S.? Remember that the Gallup Poll found 710 million adults around the world want to emigrate. For 147 million, the U.S. is their destination of choice.

So look at that 1.8 million, and double or triple it, assuming that most immigrants will want to sponsor parents, or siblings, as citizens. Think of what that influx of mostly poor people with minimal education and job skills will do to the U.S. To our politics. To the wages of blue collar workers. And our already crowded, limited funds to serve the native born poor.

Another Amnesty Giveaway?

The Reagan Amnesty, given away without enforcement, backfired massively. It increased illegal immigration, and helped turn places like Reagan’s own California into one-party failed states. So did subsequent, less famous amnesties. If the House chooses to defy President Trump and the voters by making the same blunder again, how will those voters react in November? Do you think they’ll turn out in droves to guarantee the GOP keeps control of the House? Or will they decide that politics is futile, since however you vote and whomever you elect, the same stupid things keep happening, over and over again?

John Zmirak and Al Perrotta are authors of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration.