Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) political organization pushed back Thursday afternoon at a Wall Street Journal report that at a private dinner in New Hampshire earlier this month he said he supported a pathway to citizenship despite publicly saying that he opposes one.
“We strongly dispute this account,” Kirsten Kukowski, the communications director for Walker’s Our American Revival political organization said in a statement Thursday afternoon. “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. His position has not changed, he does not support citizenship for illegal immigrants, and this story line is false.”
The Journal report published just before Kukowski sent the statement said that Walker, at a private dinner in New Hampshire, that he supported the idea of a pathway to citizenship for immigrants living in the country illegally. Those comments, which the Journal said “confirmed by three people present” contradict Walker recently saying he strongly opposes “amnesty.”
At the Republican dinner, according to the Journal, Walker said undocumented immigrants should “eventually get their citizenship without being given preferential treatment.”
“He said no to citizenship now, but later they could get it,” Franklin, New Hampshire Mayor Ken Merrifield, who attended the dinner, told the Journal. Walker, according to Griner, argued undocumented immigrants should “get to the back of the line for citizenship” but shouldn’t be deported.
Critics have accused Walker of repeatedly changing his position on immigration reform. In 2006 Walker signed a Milwaukee County resolution in support of the immigration reform proposal by Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and the late Ted Kennedy (D-MA) that provided legal status to undocumented immigrants. In 2013 Walker told The Wausau Daily Herald editorial board that he backed a pathway to citizenship. In February 2015 he went on to Fox News to say that he was misquoted (which the editorial board quibbled with) and that he said “repeatedly I oppose amnesty.”
Walker received praise for the outspoken anti-immigration hardliner Rep. Steve King (R-IA) for delivering a fiery speech at King’s Iowa Freedom Summit earlier in the year as well.
