The co-founder of and chief strategist for one of the biggest tea party organizations is coming out in support of overhauling the nation’s immigration laws, a bold statement that could energize advocates and alienate conservatives. Sal Russo of the Tea Party Express broke the news in an op-ed titled ‘Conservatives Need to Fix the Broken Immigration System,’

KEY TEA PARTY LEADER EMBRACES IMMIGRATION OVERHAUL
Roll Call: “The co-founder of and chief strategist for one of the biggest tea party organizations is coming out in support of overhauling the nation’s immigration laws, a bold statement that could energize advocates and alienate conservatives. Sal Russo of the Tea Party Express broke the news in an op-ed titled ‘Conservatives Need to Fix the Broken Immigration System,’ published by CQ Roll Call early Wednesday morning. In that piece, the longtime GOP operative and consultant argued that ‘conservatives should be at the forefront of reform so the law reflects the just interests of the United States, not misty-eyed ideals of some of the liberal do-gooder reformers’… ‘We have to get them right by the law in exchange for legal status, but not unbridled amnesty,” Russo wrote. “This should include penalties, background checks to root out criminals, and the requirement that they learn English, understand the Constitution and be committed to our basic freedoms’…Russo’s support for a comprehensive immigration fix that includes a legal status pathway — plus his suggestion that ‘conservatives need to seize on immigration reform’ in order to ‘reaffirm who we are and what makes our country great’ — is likely to raise eyebrows on all sides of the immigration debate.”