On March 21, six self-styled conservative congressmen sent Rand Paul a letter supporting his amnesty plan and coming up with what they term a "three-legged stool of systemic immigration reform".

One of those legs is a guest workers program, something that would result in many "guests" never returning home and that - as the Bracero program did - would encourage more illegal immigration.

Another leg is a massive legalization program for almost all illegal aliens in the U.S. That has huge downsides for the U.S.; see comprehensive immigration reform for a list of some downsides. It also has huge downsides for the GOP, since the Democratic Party would work night and day to convert those who were legalized into voting citizens.

The text of their letter is below. For why it's wrong, see the preceding links and the entries on the Rand Paul and Marco Rubio pages. Almost everything written about those self-styled conservatives applies to their House colleagues as well.

These are the six who signed the letter below:

* Justin Amash (Michigan)
* Mick Mulvaney (South Carolina)
* Thomas Massie (Kentucky)
* Jeff Duncan (South Carolina)
* Trey Radel (Florida)
* Mark Meadows (North Carolina)

Here's the letter:

Senator Paul,

We write to offer you our support, encouragement and assistance as we work together to identify the principles that must guide our nation’s thinking on immigration reform.

You noted Tuesday in your remarks to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce that “somewhere along the line, Republicans have failed to understand and articulate that immigrants are an asset to America, not a liability,” and that the Republican Party must embrace more legal immigration. We wholeheartedly agree – and stand alongside you in your efforts. We believe you put it best when you said, “Immigration reform will not occur until Conservative Republicans . . . become part of the solution.”

While we recognize that many details and specific proposals will need to be worked out, we want you to know that we support what we see as the three-legged stool of systemic immigration reform:

1) Ensuring the security of our borders, including both our physical borders and the “virtual” border of visa overstays (which account for almost half of our current illegal immigrant population) with such security acting as a prerequisite or “trigger” for other reforms;

2) Expanding legal immigration, with a special eye toward encouraging highly-skilled workers educated here to remain here, expanding opportunities for entrepreneurs who want to come here, and providing an adequate legal migrant worker system to help serve our agricultural and tourism industries; and

3) Finding a way to reasonably address the reportedly 11 million people who came here knowingly and illegally – in a way that is best for all Americans. This means protecting the rights of those who are seeking and continue to seek to come here legally. But it also may mean providing a legal status, upon certain conditions and that may not include full rights of citizenship, to people who are currently here.

We believe such an approach would put the broader health of our economy – not entrenched special interests – at the forefront of this debate. Indeed, it would go great lengths to reinforce the principles we share as Americans, and as sons and daughters of immigrants ourselves.

Immigration has been essential to the advancement of our nation’s well-being – and we believe you are on the right track both in acknowledging this elemental contribution and safeguarding it in a fair and consistent manner for all of our nation’s workers.