Appearing on Fox News Channel’s “The Will Cain Show” to discuss the illegal immigration situation and Trump Administration’s attempts to deal with it, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) revealed that he wants to give amnesty to illegal aliens, which is just the sort of terrible and irresponsible idea that many Republicans would see as an immense betrayal.
As background, President Ronald Reagan gave amnesty to around 3 million illegal aliens in the late 1980s, with an immigration bill deal that many Republicans see as a betrayal and which ended up providing the right with very little in exchange for amnesty, which some say helped turn California into a solidly blue state.
Because of that, most amnesty proposals are dead on arrival, and are just the sort of thing that RINOs often propose while working in conjunction with Democrats, but which drive the base absolutely crazy and which are seen as obvious and open betrayals that could torpedo the Republican party by making it too unpopular.
In any case, FNC’s Will Cain kicked off the discussion by asking why Rep. Lawler would possibly be considering giving millions upon millions of illegal aliens a path to legal status, asking, quite fairly, “Why is it important to give those 25 million illegal immigrants a pathway to legal status?”
Rep. Lawler the RINO of course tried to deflect and deny, though he couldn’t hide the disastrous nature of what he is proposing. Beginning, he tried to claim that the number is much more limited than Cain claimed, saying, “You’re not giving the 25 million, you’re giving a segment of that that would fit into very specific criteria.”
Continuing, the RINO representative insisted that there is a bevy of restrictions he has put on who could take advantage of the program he is proposing, and thus amnesty would be a good rather than bad thing, though he of course ignored that being in America illegally is a crime and thus the whole thing would technically be illegal under his bill.
In any case, he said, on that point, that there are three big restrictions, saying, “Number one, they cannot have committed a crime in the United States or in their country of origin. Number two, they cannot collect government benefits period. Number three, they have to pay all back taxes and a fine for coming into this country illegally.”
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Cain then interrupted and asked what many who hear RINOs like Cain push ideas like this, asking, And what if they don’t do this process?” In response, Rep. Lawler insisted that those who don’t go through with the various restrictions would be deported, saying, “But then they’re deported.” He then repeated the same thing, emphasizing that they would be deported.
Concluding, Rep. Lawler ridiculously said, “You have to, you have to abide by the terms of this and part of this. And I fundamentally believe if you gave people an option to come out of the shadows, to stop hiding and skirting a legal process, if you gave them a process forward that for goes any path to citizenship, they would take it.”
Watch him here:
The Dignity Act would grant legal status to a segment of the illegal population that meets certain criteria such as:
– Not having committed a crime in the United States as well as in their country of origin.
– They cannot collect government benefits. Period.
– They must pay… pic.twitter.com/YfCUdbGxXY
— Mike Lawler (@lawler4ny) February 4, 2026