On Illegal Immigrants - The Post that Demanded to be Written

During the last election a group called All Children Matter sent direct mail and purchased radio ads in the 49th Assembly District race. Many of these ads criticized Rep. Garthwaite for voting in favor of subsidizing tuition at the University of Wisconsin for illegal immigrants.

At first, Rep. Garthwaite denied this vote. Later he admitted it explaining that it was part of a budget bill that he had been forced to vote for and stated repeatedly that he did not support taxpayer funded benefits for illegal immigrants. On his blog, he addressed the question of whether he supported benefits for illegal immigrants by stating, “Nothing could be further from the truth.” This was a mantra Phil repeated over and over at debates, forums, and in newspaper columns over the course of the campaign.

Now, I have been struggling to write this post because I personally feel that the Republican Party would be best served by moving away from divisive issues like illegal immigration; however, I feel that I must comment on Phil’s votes on this subject because they demonstrate the depth to which he will sink to say one thing in Grant County and then do the total opposite in Madison.

Plain and simple, Phil Garthwaite supports taxpayer funded benefits for Illegal immigrants. He voted to provide them repeatedly and he was unarguably the deciding vote to include them in the budget. This is a fact. If Phil denies it, he is a liar.

The version of the budget that was voted on in the Assembly included two provisions to benefit illegal immigrants. The first would provide in-state tuition to illegal immigrants. The second would create a new program in the Department of Transportation to provide drivers cards to illegal immigrants.

During the budget debate Assembly Amendment 76 was introduced to remove the driver card provision from the bill. Phil Garthwaite was the deciding vote to kill the amendment.

Shortly thereafter, Assembly Amendment 78 was introduced to remove the in-state tuition provision from the bill. Phil Garthwaite was the deciding vote to kill that amendment as well.

He was then the deciding vote to pass the budget.

It’s fine to debate the merits of these two proposals. There are good arguments on both sides. What is undebatable, however, is that Phil Garthwaite supports taxpayer funded programs for illegal immigrants. I hope that from now on, he will openly admit this and defend his votes on these proposals based on their merits and demerits. If he tries to deny his votes or hide from the issue as he did during the last election then he is truly a Madison politician.