Walker Denies Remarks Indicating Change in Immigration Stance

New York Times

By Jason Horowitz and Patrick Healy

March 26, 2015

Walker Denies Remarks Indicating Change in Immigration Stance 

Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, a possible candidate for president in 2016, told a private gathering of New Hampshire Republicans this month that he supported a pathway to legal status — but not citizenship — for undocumented immigrants in the United States, according to the chairwoman of the state’s Republican Party.

The chairwoman, Jennifer Horn, described Mr. Walker’s statements on Thursday after The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post reported that Mr. Walker had endorsed eventual citizenship for those immigrants, which many Republicans oppose.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Walker, Kirsten Kukowski, disputed those reports about Mr. Walker embracing a pathway to citizenship.

“Governor Walker has been very clear that he does not support amnesty and believes that border security must be established and the rule of law must be followed,” she said in a statement. “He does not support citizenship for illegal immigrants.” She did not respond to requests to provide any audio recording of Mr. Walker’s remarks at the Copper Door.

Mr. Walker tends to avoid phrases like “legal status” and “citizenship” in public, but has said emphatically that he opposes any amnesty for undocumented immigrants. Mr. Walker did once support a pathway to citizenship, but said he changed his mind after talking to governors of border states, among others. Any perceived reversal on the immigration issue would complicate Mr. Walker’s efforts to appeal to many conservative Republican primary voters and leave him open to criticism for changing positions.

Mr. Walker’s remarks came during a gathering with Republican activists after a dinner at the Copper Door restaurant in Bedford, N.H., where he ate with Ms. Horn and a few other guests.

After the dinner, a few Republican activists joined Mr. Walker for coffee and cake, and to ask him questions. One of the questions, according to Ms. Horn, was about Mr. Walker’s position on immigration.

Mr. Walker spoke for roughly three minutes about a process in which undocumented immigrants would be required to start the process anew and pay back taxes.

But Mr. Walker’s answer was apparently vague enough to prompt Ms. Horn to follow-up.

“To clarify, what you are saying is that you are advocating that the people who are already here, the 11-12 million people who are here illegally in our country, should have a path to legal status, not citizenship?” she asked.

“Yes,” Mr. Walker responded, according to Ms. Horn.

Another New Hampshire Republican who was there, Mark Vincent, chairman of the Hillsborough County Republican Committee, said he did not remember Mr. Walker ever using the word “citizenship” in his remarks.

“I remember him saying he supported a path to legal status,” said Mr. Vincent, who plans to remain neutral in the state’s 2016 Republican presidential primary.

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