Paul Ryan: Immigration Reform in TPP Is 'Urban Legend'

In recent weeks, a flurry of op-ed articles and warnings on social media have charged that that the Tran-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement now before Congress contains language that would assist President Barack Obama’s immigration agenda.

On Thursday morning, however, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) told Newsmax that this is "absolutely not true” and dismissed the warnings as "the latest urban legend."

"There’s no way we [House Republicans] would sign off on immigration reform in the trade agreements," said the 2012 Republican vice presidential nominee, adding that he and his colleagues "are unified on this."

Ryan, who spoke at a press breakfast in Washington, D.C., hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, went on to promise that House Judiciary Committee Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), a strong opponent of the Obama immigration program, would have a letter later in the day responding to the mounting speculation about advancing immigration through TPP.

One example of the recent rumors was in a guest editorial in the Capitol Hill publication The Hill entitled, "Trade Agreement is a Trojan horse for Obama’s Immigration Agenda."

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