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Rep. Paul Ryan met with the Republican caucus in the House today and told them he was willing to run for Speaker. But only on his terms: unanimous support, reduced fundraising duties, and an end to mid-session attempts to remove the Speaker from power. According to a team of National Review reporters, he didn't offer much in returnexcept for this:

Though it wasnt a night in which Ryan was making many concessions aside from a nod that he was seriously considering taking a job he has said publicly he does not want he also hinted strongly that he will not bring an immigration bill to the House floor. He told his colleagues the issue was simply too divisive and he wanted to focus on the things on which the conference is in agreement, like border security and internal enforcement, as opposed to a comprehensive bill.

This doesn't strike me as a huge concession. Ryan may be an immigration dove, but under the current circumstances there's no way he'd try to cut a deal with Democrats for comprehensive immigration reform. Especially not during an election year. The conservative base rebelled over this in 2006 and then again in 2013. Bringing it up again would be nuts. And whatever else Ryan is, he's not nuts.

So there you have it: no immigration reform this year or next. But you weren't really expecting any, were you?

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Ryan: No Immigration Reform If He's Speaker | Mother Jones

Marco Rubio is a crafty, talented 44-year-old politician who is in serious danger of splitting his pants. More than anyone else in the Republican presidential primary, Rubio is trying to straddle his party's most visible divide, presenting himself as a solid choice for the corporate elite and as a tribune of the (very angry) people who don't have much use for corporate elitists. As a Fortune columnist wrote, Rubio has "a chameleon-like ability to sound like an outsider even when his policy positions match those of the party establishment."

The Florida senator has yet to break through to the top tier of candidates. Both the RealClearPolitics and Huffpollster polling averages show Rubio in third place nationally, but at around 9 percent of the primary vote he is closer to cellar dwellers Chris Christie and Lindsey Graham than he is to soaring novices Donald Trump and Ben Carson.

Even so, there is evidence that Rubio's straddle could work. Jeb Bush, the gold-plated establishment offering, is faltering. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, the other would-be hedge candidate, has been driven from the race. Rubio enjoys high favorable/unfavorable ratios, which suggest a potential to rise. (An August Quinnipiac poll showed Rubio with an otherworldly 72/3 rating among Republicans.)

QuickTake Swerving Path to Citizenship

But if straddling were easy, more candidates would succeed at it. And Rubio's greatest stretch -- immigration -- is his riskiest.

Rubio helped shepherd comprehensive immigration reform through the Senate in 2013. It seemed like a good idea at the time. The party was reeling from President Barack Obama's re-election, and a party "autopsy" of the defeat practically begged legislators to use an immigration fix to get right with Hispanic and Asian voters, who supported Obama by 2-to-1 margins.

Rubio clearly hoped to be the Republican Moses, leading a new wave of immigrant voters into the party. But the Republican base revolted, and House Republicans stomped on reform, tentatively at first, then with increasing gusto. By the time Trump launched his campaign in June with a vitriolic broadside against Mexicans, Rubio had been working for months to cross the border back to the nativist side of the party. Trump's subsequent success with Republican voters merely underscored the necessity.

At a time when many whites are anxious about the approach of a nonwhite majority, the political value of championing immigration in a Republican primary can appear microscopically small (ask Bush). In a 2013 poll published by the Center for American Progress, 57 percent of Republicans expressed concern that rising diversity would lead to rising discrimination against whites. In the same poll, 80 percent of Republicans expressed concern that it would place too many demands on public services. These are not, generally speaking, Americans desperate to welcome 11 million mostly Hispanic illegal immigrants into the U.S. electorate.

The predictable result, as reported by Bloomberg Politics:

Pressed by conservative host Sean Hannity during a Monday night interview on Fox News, the Florida senator said he's open to a path to citizenship for people in the U.S. illegally, but only a decade or more after passage of bills to secure the border and modernize the legal immigration system.

As anyone who has followed the immigration debate knows, in the minds of many immigration restrictionists the border is a loose and dangerous phantasm that will never be secure. Rubio was basically saying the path to citizenship is a dead end.

Oh, and forget about legalization, too. People need to see and honestly believe that the problem is not getting worse, that its getting better," he told the Guardian. "And until we are achieving that, I dont think were going to have the political support that we need to move forward on the other pieces of it.

Restrictionists are not convinced of Rubio's turnaround, or forgiving of his pro-immigration transgressions. Typical headlines:

Hotair: Rubio raking in big bucks from rich pro-amnesty Republicans by touting his "immigration record" behind closed doors.

Breitbart: Rubio Abandons GOP Position, Caves to Obama Executive Amnesty

Rubio's pollster, Whit Ayers, won't soothe their worries. Ayers argues that Republicans must improve their standing among minorities to remain competitive in presidential politics. He is one of the party's leading proponents of broadening the tent.

While he has failed to win over the restrictionist right, Rubio is considered a traitor by his former allies. "His hard line on immigration, increasingly unmasked, is going to be hung around his neck should he make it to the general election," said Frank Sharry, a prominent pro-immigration advocate. "He reeks of ambition and shows little evidence of character."

Back in July, when Rubio was already in full flight from his previous stance on immigration, Senator John McCain, a backer of immigration reform, likened him to a politician licking his finger and holding it to the wind. You dont need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows," McCain told the New Yorker's Ryan Lizza.

In an interview with Bloomberg Politics, Mike Murphy, who runs the super-PAC supporting Bush's candidacy, all but announced his intention to show the "vulnerable" side of Rubio. In the vernacular of 30-second attack ads, Rubio's turnabout on immigration is a serious character issue.

Rubio is poised to be the corporate Republican fallback in case Bush's candidacy fades. Murphy, who is sitting atop the largest single advertising budget in American politics right now, would like to make sure Rubio never gets that opportunity.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

To contact the author of this story: Francis Wilkinson at fwilkinson1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jonathan Landman at jlandman4@bloomberg.net

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Rubio's Immigration Magic Trick - Bloomberg View

The Wisconsin lawmaker lacks faith in President Obamas ability to be honest on the issue of immigration and will not be confronting the hot-button issue while Obama remains in office, a Ryan spokesman explained to the Free Beacon.

Ryan understands that we cant address that issue with a president we cant trust, spokesman Brendan Buck emailed the Free Beacon.

While Ryan may not pursue immigration reform under Obama, the Ways and Means chairman has, in the past, sought to mend the nations immigration system with comprehensive reform efforts. A fact that has not been lost on critics of a Ryan speakership who fear the former vice presidential candidate might not be conservative enough.

Following the Tuesday evening meeting, Ryan said publicly that he will run for Speaker if the caucus will unify behind him.

What I told the members is, if you can agree to these requests, and if I can truly be a unifying figure, then I will gladly serve. And, if I am not unifying, that will be fine as well. I will be happy to stay where am, at the Ways and Means Committee, Ryan said.

Out-going House Speaker Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) has scheduled the internal GOP elections for speaker next Wednesday followed by the full vote on the House floor Thursday.

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Report: No Immigration Reform Under Obama With a Paul Ryan ...

By Lorraine Caballero , Christian Post Contributor

October 20, 2015|5:18 am

Latinos protest in favor of comprehensive immigration reform on the West side of Capitol Hill in Washington, April 10, 2013.

A federal judge in Texas on Friday denied birth certificates for the U.S.-born kids of illegal immigrants, resulting in a lawsuit against the state.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman released a ruling to allow Texas officials to prevent undocumented immigrants from procuring birth certificates for their children born in the United States. Because of this, a group of illegal immigrants slapped Texas with a lawsuit alleging the Vital Statistics offices have not allowed them to obtain birth certificates for their children, according to the Latin Post.

Children without birth certificates cannot be enrolled in Medicaid or even day care even though they were born in the United States. Before, the immigrants were allowed to present secondary identification documents, such as the Mexican matricula consular ID, to procure birth certificates for their children. This identification card is usually issued by Mexican consulates to illegal residents in the United States, the report explains.

However, when Texas implemented a crackdown on birth certificates, many of the county registers in the state have stopped accepting the matricula consular as valid identification for undocumented immigrants. The new rule has made it more difficult for the said residents to live and raise their kids in Texas, immigrant rights advocates argue.

While an official decision on the matter has not yet been made, Texas officials can continue to refuse to issue birth certificates to the immigrants' U.S.-born children. For Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the move is simply part of the state's way to ensure that all the residents are properly verified. But the children's legal counsel argued that the process is making it difficult for the kids to gain access to school, medical care, and other basic services.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Barack Obama is gearing up for a plan to rewrite the country's immigration law. His modernization plan will involve the fast-tracking of work permits for hundreds of thousands of visa applicants, The Hillreports.

The planned rewriting of the U.S. immigration law will also allow hundreds of thousands of immigrants to work in the country legally, despite their undocumented status. The Obama administration's plan has sparked concerns from other groups who fear that illegal aliens will try to enter the country by all means possible should the immigration reform push through.

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Immigration Reform News 2015: Judge Denies Birth Certificates ...

CREDIT: AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., center, accompanied by House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Md., left, and Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., arrive for a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, March 26, 2015, to talk about the "continuation of efforts to educate individuals and families about the president's immigration executive actions." (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

2013 marked the year that real momentum was building toward passing a comprehensive immigration reform bill that would put millions of undocumented immigrants on a pathway to citizenship. The Senate approved a bipartisan bill in June 2013, igniting optimism that Congress might actually create a long-term solution to a politically charged problem. House leadership even expressed some interest in prioritizing the issue in 2014.

But that didnt happen. Today, the prospect of putting undocumented immigrants on some sort of pathway to legal status has never seemed less viable. GOP presidential candidates are running on virulently anti-immigrant platforms. And Republicans in the Senate are introducing legislation to make it easier to arrest immigrants for deportation proceedings.

A new documentary from FRONTLINE and Independent Lens set for release Tuesday night on PBS asks one simple question: What went wrong?

Filmmakers Shari Robertson and Michael Camerini present a fly-on-the-wall look at how bipartisan lawmakers almost pulled together to pass an immigration reform bill between 2013 and 2015 and how the bill ultimately dead-ended in the Republican-controlled House.

Immigration Battle follows Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) as he worked behind the scenes with Republican congressional leaders and the White House to write a bill that would neither be too lenient on undocumented immigrants and nor too aligned with President Obama, whom many House Republicans do not wish to work with.

Perhaps contrary to conventional wisdom, Robertson and Camerini conclude that Republicans werent the only one to blame for the ultimate downfall of the immigration reform bill. There is no easy villain, Camerini, joined on a phone interview with Robertson, told ThinkProgress. Its not an easy Republicans are bad movie.

House Speaker John Boehners (R-OH) confusing aboutface to vote on a set of immigration reform principles that would grant legal status to undocumented immigrants was his way of inoculating, testing the waters, drawing people out to see if they had a way forward, Camerini said.

The documentary pinpoints at least two turning points that help explain why House Republican members have since embraced more immigration-restrictionist bills.

First, former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) was defeated by the underfunded Tea Party darling Dave Brat, who ran on an opposition campaign to immigration reform. And then, an increase of Central American children who showed up at the southern U.S.-Mexico border appeared to trigger some House Republicans who otherwise would have supported a whip count to bring up an immigration bill to back down from supporting any immigration reform bills, which had suddenly become more politically toxic.

The window for action is always short, its almost like a magical alignment of the stars and two enormous meteors came through, Robertson told ThinkProgress. Those two things you can call them random occurrences no one expected either one.

The film makes the case that Democratic lawmakers played a role, too. Republicans turned their backs on immigration reform in part because Democratic leadership and the White House believed that House Republicans would take on a more conservative bill than the Senate did.

They made a strategic decision that I think everybody would say is a strategic error, Camerini said. There was a bipartisan deal in the House early and by killing it, they made the road much harder and much longer.

Ones own party can be an enemy because its such a useful political issue to blame the other side, Robertson added. People who want to get it done fear their own parties using it as a political issue almost more than they do the other side.

Now, the promise of passing comprehensive immigration reform is little more than a memory as Republicans have moved sharply in the opposite direction. On Tuesday, the Senate is preparing to vote on whether to consider a bill to crack down on sanctuary cities, which are areas that have elected not to turn over undocumented immigrants to federal law enforcement.

This vile legislation might as well be called The Donald Trump Act,' Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said on the floor on Monday. Like the disgusting and outrageous language championed by Donald Trump, this legislation paints all immigrants as criminals and rapists.

Camerini acknowledged that its hard to distinguish between bills which are theater and bills which are real as House members take hardline stances to impress their constituents. Thats why he wanted to focus on a piece of proposed legislation that seemed like it had a real shot.

This is the story of a real [bill] one that got really, really close, he said.

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'Immigration Battle' Answers The Question Of How ...