GOP Convention opens with conflict between platform and candidate on immigration

The GOP Convention opens in Minneapolis Monday with a conflict over immigration between its platform and its presidential candidate. The draft for the platform says “We oppose amnesty” for illegal immigrants.

However, Sen. John McCain, the party’s presidential nominee, has been a leading proponent in Congress for giving illegal aliens a “pathway to citizenship.”

The platform says, “It [the rule of law] does not mean driver’s licenses for illegal aliens, nor does it mean that states should be allowed to flout the federal law barring them from giving in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens. We oppose amnesty.”

By contrast, in June, McCain told the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials that comprehensive immigration reform is his 'top priority -- yesterday, today and tomorrow.' In 2006, McCain worked with Democrat Senator Ted Kennedy to draft and introduce in the Senate a 'comprehensive' immigration reform bill that would have given illegal aliens a path to citizenship and allow 200,000 new 'guest workers' to enter the country each year.