Daniel Webster is one of a group of lawmakers in the Republican Party who support the idea of offering an eventual pathway to US citizenship for the millions of people who are already illegally residing in the country and are faced with the challenge of attempting to persuade colleagues to do the same.
The great majority of Republicans seem to be opposed to this attitude to citizenship, and there appears to be not much in the way of political incentive in order to persuade them to change their stance, although some Republicans believe that the House needs to embrace immigration overhaul in one way or another if the Republican Party is to have a future in a country with a growing Hispanic population.
Those who support the idea of a pathway to US citizenship point at business backing and changes in demographics as reasons to change, an argument that has succeeded with Webster, who at one time opposed reform. “I think as a country we need to do something,” Webster admitted in an interview. “Doing nothing is amnesty.”
His words echoed the sentiments of a number of other Republicans, including Senator Marco Rubio, one of the Gang of Eight who drafted the comprehensive immigration reform bill that was passed by the Senate three months ago, back in June. The small but slowly growing band of Republicans is attempting to find a compromise between those who want the path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and those who want border security.