Could Rep. Mark Walker Be NC’s Next Amnesty Sell Out?

Since Mark Walker (NC-6) was elected to Congress in 2014, many of the voters who helped send him to Washington have felt somewhat betrayed by a man who campaigned as a strong, unrelenting conservative.

After all, with one his very first votes as a member of Congress, Walker went back on a long-held campaign promise to vote against John Boehner for Speaker of the House, choosing instead to betray his constituents and help Boehner retain the gavel.

As subseqent votes have been cast, and Walker’s conservative bona fides have come under fire, many have compared Walker to former Congresswoman Renee Ellmers, another North Carolina politician who ran as a conservative in order to win an election, only to go back on campaign promise after campaign promise before losing her primary less than a year ago.

To Walker’s credit, he hasn’t been as blatantly liberal as Ellmers; Walker’s conservative scorecards range somewhere between the lacking 75% he received Conservative Review and the respectable 85% he received from Heritage Action.

For comparison, Ellmers’ constantly struggled to produce even semi-passing conservative grades, while the state’s top conservative, House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (NC-11), boasts scores of 94% from Conservative Review and 90% from Heritage Action.

With Walker teetering somewhere in the middle, it’s safe to see why many around our state’s 6th congressional district grow ever more worrisome at the thought that their Representative could fall prey to the Republican establishment at any time.

Couple these fears with the fact that Walker has rocketed up the ranks of the Republican Party at a seemingly rapid pace, apparently serving as the establishment’s chosen candidate – over the House Freedom Caucus’ Andy Harris – in the race for Chair of the Republican Study Committee, it does cause concern.

With one of North Carolina’s Senators, Thom Tillis, flat out advocating for blanket amnesty in his latest “compromise” on an “immigration overhaul” the questions on where Walker will come down on the issue have heated back up in recent days.

Walker campaigned as a fierce opponent of amnesty for illegal aliens in any form. In fact, a direct quote on the issue from his still active campaign website reads: “I am opposed to all forms of immigration amnesty.”

But, in a recent interview with The Hill, the Congressman alluded to possibly being open to a Tillis-style “compromise” with radical liberals on amnesty, sounding alarm bells throughout the conservative movement:

“When Republicans talk about, ‘Hey, what do we need to do to fix the immigration problem,’ well our top three things are secure the border, then after that we need to secure the border and then the third point would be we need to secure the border.”

“Well we’ve got to get off that talking point, and we’ve got to talk about long term how do we resolve some of these immigration issues,” Walker said.

Walker went on to say after the Republicans move to secure the border early this year, they would then move to “begin working toward a plan that addresses the undocumented and things like how to deal with the children of undocumented immigrants who were born in the United States,” according to The Hill.

“I know it’s a sensitive issue, but we can’t ignore that,” Walker concluded.

While Walker was careful to stop short of indicating a definitive position one way or another, it is troubling that he wasn’t as adamant as he had been on the campaign trail.

Many conservative activists are pointing to previous questionable votes Walker made on the subject, like his vote in favor of “Obamatrade,” which featured an entire immigration section that massively expanded Obama’s executive authority when it comes to immigration matters.

It’s these type of “squishy” votes on the details that matter most.

At the end of the day, whether it was a compromise Walker was willing to make, a careless vote or an indication of Walker’s true feelings towards immigration, it’s the details in all of these reforms that matter most.

For now, if you live in the 6th congressional district, or North Carolina in general, and you care about the issue of amnesty, we’d highly suggest contacting Congressman Walker early and often to ensure he fully understands how the voters feel about this critical issue.

And be assured, First In Freedom Daily will be keeping a close eye on how this matter continues to develop…