Even moderates in the GOP like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie are running scared from comprehensive immigration reform, knowing that such a plan is politically devastating for any of them.
Appearing on This Week with George Stephanopoulos Sunday, the former Bill Clinton aide asked Christie multiple times if he supports a “pathway to citizenship” for America’s at least 11 million illegal immigrants—terminology that means amnesty. Christie dodged each time.
When talking about 2016 prospects—Christie is expected to run for president in 2016, and has been claiming he is a “conservative” since he was re-elected governor of New Jersey last week—Stephanopoulos asked the governor about immigration.
“One issue that’s sure to come up is immigration,” the one-time Democratic operative asked Christie, according to a transcript published on ABC News’ website. “You mentioned that you got a majority of the Latino vote in your re-election. And you’re for a path to citizenship. You also said that undocumented students in New Jersey should get in-state tuition rates. Do you think other states should adopt that policy as well?”
Christie’s first response did not refer to a “pathway to citizenship.” Instead, he focused on speaking in generalities about immigration.
“Listen, I think nationally, they have to fix a broken system,” Christie said. “And I think this is one of the real frustrations that people across the country have on this and a myriad of other issues is they look at what governors do, like in New Jersey, where we confront problems, we debate them, we argue about them, then we get to a table, we come to an agreement, we fix them and we move on. And in Washington, that seems to almost never happens.”
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