The broad coalition of pro-American migration-reform groups is swatting down a “discussion document” by one group — NumbersUSA — that suggests trading a partial amnesty for millions of resident illegals in exchange for trimming the legalized inflow of migrants by roughly one-fifth.
The push could derail the migration movement’s progress during President Donald Trump’s administration, say activists in the movement. “If you’re on the same side, you have to be all rowing in the same direction if you want to accomplish anything,” said one activist.
The Americans who will vote in the 2026 midterms are increasingly recognizing that Trump’s migration reductions are raising their wages, reducing their housing costs, and increasing workplace investment, he said. “With the best hand we’ve ever had, now is not the time to capitulate,” he added.
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But the concern is entirely misplaced, countered Roy Beck, the founder of NumbersUSA.
The claimed outline for a deal is merely a “discussion document” drafted by an outside group called Braver Angels. The Braver Angels group is trying to stage a national debate between immigration reform groups and business groups, he told Breitbart News late Tuesday evening.
The Braver Angels group, which has its own management team and sources of funding, says:
The goal of the Citizens Commission on Immigration is to demonstrate to Congress and the nation that Americans with differing views on immigration can find common ground. The Commission works in a red/blue balanced way and includes Americans from all sides of the issue. It was launched after a red/blue balanced group of about 750 delegates at the 2024 Braver Angels National Convention gathered and voted to establish immigration as a Braver Angels priority issue. This is following in the footsteps of our successful Trustworthy Elections Campaign.
The Citizens Commission on Immigration encompasses focus on Grassroots Americans, National Leaders, and Congress and culminates in a Report to the Nation, outlining key policy recommendations on immigration that reflect red/blue common ground from the grassroots and national work.
One staffer at NumbersUSA, Jim Robb, is working with Braver Angels and its team of mostly pro-migration advocates.
In other countries, pro-migration forces have staged elaborate and expensive parliament-like public debates to claim there is public support for more migration.
But NumbersUSA is also shopping the draft report as the basis for an immigration deal, said two activists.
The suggested amnesty would allow millions of illegals to stay, but also deny them citizenship.
“They completely betrayed the core agenda… they are no longer a leader in the movement,” said one. “Why are those players going back in a time machine to 2012 when we’ve got the most leverage and an electoral mandate? Both chambers [of Congress]! Seventy-seven million Americans endorsed mass deportation!”
Any support for amnesty loosens the pressure on the millions of illegal migrants to self-deport, and one business group to invest in American workers, said another activist.
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Much of their criticism is aimed at Michael Hough, a third co-president of NumbersUSA. He is working with Robb to present the “discussion document” to Hill politicians, including Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and Rep. David Valadao (R-CA), who is backing the amnesty bill pushed by Rep. Maria Salazar (R-FL).
Hough was hired by James Massa, a short-lived leader at NumbersUSA who caused an exodus of staffers from the group.
Hough is a “hardliner,” said Roy Beck.
“There is no policy difference here” between NumbersUSA and the other groups, said Jermey Beck, the co-president of NumbersUSA who replaced Massa. “I’m not going to speak about private talks,” he said. “This discussion is nonsense — everybody at NumbersUSA is working to reduce numbers.”
He told Breitbart News:
NumbersUSA is for lower immigration. Period. We spent … the last few months fighting tooth and nail for the record immigration enforcement funding in the reconciliation bill. We got that passed by the skin of our teeth. It’s a great victory. It is necessary, but it’s not sufficient.
He continued:
Funding is ephemeral. Legislation is lasting, and we remain in the greatest wave of mass immigration in US history and in world history. All of the reverse Robin Hood redistribution of wealth that occurred before the Biden border crisis is still going on. Half a trillion dollars every year being taken from the hands of the working men and women of America and put into the pockets of the investment class. That’s still happening. The guest worker programs are still happening. [The US government] is still allowing roughly half of our legal immigration system to be decided by immigrants themselves through extended family chain migration, and we’re still granting automatic birthright citizenship. We’re still looking the other way when it comes to illegal hiring.
“Our due diligence is to talk to people, to talk to allied groups, to talk to opposition, to get the lay of land, see where people are, to see if there are opportunities, where there might be opportunities to move forward,” said Jeremy Beck, adding:
And so we’re having discussions with people, and these discussions are wide-ranging, but that’s all it is. It’s due diligence. It’s figuring out where people are. It’s looking ahead to the future, the priority right now remains [passing] HR2. That’s the next big thing.
HR2 is a comprehensive immigration reform bill. It is being pushed by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who heads the judiciary committee. But it is quietly opposed by a handful of GOP representatives who favor a continued inflow of wage-cutting migrants into the jobs that would otherwise go to better-paid Americans.
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