Hispanic Idaho Congressman Angers Latino Voters By Opposing Path To Citizenship

Hispanic Congressman Angers Latino Voters By Opposing Path To Citizenship
UNITED STATES - JULY 10: Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, arrives for the House Republican Conference caucus meeting on immigration in the basement of the Capitol on Wednesday, July 10, 2013. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
UNITED STATES - JULY 10: Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, arrives for the House Republican Conference caucus meeting on immigration in the basement of the Capitol on Wednesday, July 10, 2013. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

Advocates of immigration reform are now targeting Republican members of Congress they hope to sway, to revive the prospects for passage. And a key Idaho Republican is in their sights - Raúl Labrador, a Puerto Rican-born former immigration attorney.

Labrador began his career helping immigrants in communities like Caldwell, a heavily Latino city near Boise. Labrador now represents the people of Caldwell in Washington, DC, but he doesn’t visit there anymore, according to several locals I met.

“I remember him when I was working in the Acapulco restaurant,” said one Latina woman, who is undocumented and asked me not to use her name. “But now, nobody likes him, nobody. Hispanic people hate him now.”

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