Below the radar screen of the tumult in Egypt, the Affordable Care Act, and the economy, GOP presidential kingmakers are starting to frame themselves as pro-immigration. Who'da thunk it?
On ABC News' Top Line, Senator Norm Coleman, Chair of the American Action Network said:
Let me be very clear: It's not just a tone issue it's a substance issue. We have to be very clear in rejecting [former Republican congressman and gubernatorial candidate] Tom Tancredo, saying he's not the voice of the Republican Party, on issues dealing with Hispanics, immigration. What we have to do is simply have a pro-active agenda.
All this after Senator John Cornyn performed rhetorical pirouettes at a recent Action Network-organized Hispanic Leadership Network meeting, trying to explain to a conservative Latino audience that he was for the DREAM Act, even though he voted against allowing it to be debated in the Senate. This was also the gathering where Jeb Bush said it would be "incredibly stupid" for Republicans to ignore Hispanic voters. (Maybe Cornyn read a different memo.)
Meanwhile, Ambassador John Huntsman -- former Governor of Utah -- is resigning to rumors he may enter the presidential fray. Curiously, DC press consistently describes him as a moderate on immigration--making him an unlikely, but competitive candidate.
While it is well before the crazy comes out in the GOP primary, it is interesting to see Republicans starting now by leaning to the nation's fastest growing electorate while the administration continues to pursue expensive, discriminatory enforcement programs like 287g. As our friends at America's Voice put it:
Just as the Administration expects Latino voters to deliver for the President's re-election, so do Latino voters expect the President and his Administration to deliver on their promises--to focus enforcement resources on those committing serious crimes and to spend political capital fighting for immigration reform.
All to say that it seems one of the first signs of presidential politicking is budding competition for Latino, Asian and immigrant voters.
To the victor who places a comprehensive immigration solution on the table should go the spoils.
Crossposted at ImmPolitic.
Follow Ali Noorani on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ImmPolitic
I see, cynically, why some might 'cave in' to Immigration.
In the first two years of Obama's presidency felony immigration prosecutions have skyrocketed, and Obama has officially deported 779,000. This number doesn't include the number of people who have been forced to leave the U.S. under voluntary departure (voluntary deportation). If you add the voluntary deportations to the 779,000 you are probably closer to two million immigrants being expelled from this country since Obama unpacked his bags in the White House. Not exactly "Change" you can believe in.
What is even more stinging is that the President failed to exert political pressure on members of his own party who didn't vote for cloture on the DREAM Act during the lame duck. What it really comes down to is that President Obama says all the right things to immigration reform activists to placate them, but his policies, which are the most anti-immigrant of any President since Eisenhower, tell the real story. We can only hope that the GOP sees the light and makes immigration reform a cornerstone issue. If they do, Obama will be a one-termer.
The American people have consistently supported enforcement over amnesty. It doesn't make sense for the GOP to pander to Hispanics at the risk of losing the support of their base, considering that Hispanics currently make up less of a proportion of the voting public than Blacks.
The prefix "pro" implies you support something and that you are in favor of it. Pro-Immigration would certainly mean making legal immigration easier and more frequent. It would mean you support the concerns of immigrants. Being pro-immigrant means supporting more family visas, and making easier for even legal immigrants to go to school or be successful in the workforce.
I challenge you to find me a single anti-"illegal"-immigrant politician who supports legal immigrants-- meaning policies to make legal immigration easier and support the lives of legal immigrants.
Anti-Immigrant means Anti-immigrant.
This idea there is a difference between anti-illegal-immigrant and anti-immigrant is a convenient myth.
A state which grants drivers licenses to illegals, grants in-state post-secondary tuitition to illegals, grants welfare servces to llegals
The tide of U.S. Taxpayer opinion has changed ~ no longer tolerant of 11 million illegals, while 14.2 million voting Americans are out of work