Thread: Immigration debate unifies California GOP

The LA Times fails to mention Prop 187 was passed by the voters.
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Immigration debate unifies California GOP
Moderates lose ground as the primary focuses attention on the issue that once split the party.
By Phil Willon
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

December 5, 2007

Thirteen years after a ballot measure against illegal immigration fractured the state Republican Party, the issue again is front and center in California's upcoming presidential primary.

Moderates who have argued that an unyielding stance against illegal immigration would further erode the party's strength in this increasing polyglot state have effectively been silenced by GOP forces calling for a hard-line crackdown.

The escalating rhetoric in the GOP presidential primary has fed their retreat.

So, too, has a striking increase in the number of Californians who blame illegal immigration for the state's problems.

"There is more unity among Republicans in this state on illegal immigration than on anything else, including taxes," said Tom Hudson, chairman of the Republican Party in Placer County, near Sacramento, one of the most conservative counties in the state.

Among the GOP candidates, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has seized the issue with vigor, and U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado has made border security the centerpiece of his long-shot campaign, even airing a campaign commercial comparing illegal immigration with terrorism.

In Wednesday's GOP debate, Romney sharply criticized Rudolph W. Giuliani for providing "sanctuary" to illegal immigrants while mayor of New York City. Giuliani responded by accusing Romney of hiring illegal immigrants to work at his home. Former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee chided Romney and Giuliani as recent converts on the topic.

The issue packs some familiar political baggage for the state Republican Party, which still feels the aftershocks of Proposition 187, the landmark 1994 voter initiative to cut off services to illegal immigrants.

The measure was approved by California voters before being tossed out by the courts. But Republican Gov. Pete Wilson's championing of it turned many Latino voters, other ethnic groups and some moderate white voters against the party.

The alienation of Latinos, the fastest-growing group in the state, has been the source of worry in GOP circles ever since, particularly as the party's share of the vote has ebbed. Republicans now make up less than 34% of the electorate, far outnumbered by Democrats and the independent voters who typically side with them.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other Republicans have made efforts to change the party's image on illegal immigration. But GOP operatives said those moves lost ground last year after the stinging repudiation of President Bush's comprehensive immigration reform, which opponents attacked as weak-kneed amnesty.

Bush's defeat and the backlash against Arizona Sen. John McCain for favoring the reforms have emboldened the most zealous critics of the sort of immigration policy embodied in the bill and electrified the Republican primary.

"I think there's less concern about appearing to be intolerant now because of what happened a year ago," said Fred Vanderhoof, chairman of the Fresno County GOP. "The Congress and the president learned their lesson, when they were all pushing for a comprehensive package. The rank and file want border security first."

In California, the change in public opinion has been striking: In an October poll of registered voters, Californians who believed that the state was on the wrong track blamed illegal immigration and unsecured borders as the main reason. In that Field Poll, 21% chose that issue, compared with 6% only two years ago.

A Field Poll in April showed that 68% of Republicans in California considered illegal immigration a very serious problem, compared with 40% of Democrats and 35% of people not belonging to either party.

Even in the Central Valley, where immigrant labor is essential to the region's billion-dollar agricultural industry, Republicans overwhelmingly favor a hard-line approach, Fresno County's Vanderhoof said. The same illegal immigrants who harvest the crops have overwhelmed local hospitals, schools and service agencies, he said.

Already, there is a fledgling effort to place an initiative on California's November ballot that would require "Type 2" birth certificates to be issued to American-born children of illegal immigrants and to restrict state benefits they may receive. If the measure were adopted, it would almost certainly face court challenges of its constitutionality.

"Mitt Romney would not be wasting his time hammering Giuliani on this issue if it didn't have resonance in Iowa, New Hampshire and California," said Bill Whalen, research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, who was chief speechwriter for former Gov. Wilson. "If you can claim a Republican nominee is soft on illegal immigration . . . it's like a couple years ago saying they are soft on crime."

However, Whalen cautioned that candidates who veer too far right will become susceptible to being branded as racially divisive, as Wilson was after he backed Proposition 187 during his bid for reelection.

"I think any smart candidate in California would have a bracelet with WWAD -- What Would Arnold Do," Whalen said.

Schwarzenegger has managed to appear both tough and compassionate. He vetoed laws allowing driver's licenses for illegal immigrants yet has supported immigration reform.

But Schwarzenegger became governor without first having to get through a Republican primary. And it is open to question how successful his approach to immigration would be for someone without his celebrity cachet. The two Republican presidential candidates whose views most resemble Schwarzenegger's -- McCain and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee -- have not seen their positions translate into broad support in California.

Mike Madrid, a Sacramento-based Republican consultant who specializes in appealing to Latinos, said candidates can be strongly against illegal immigration without being so "spiteful and acerbic" that they offend Latino voters and other immigrants who came to the country legally. But sending that nuanced message is difficult during a primary season when Republican candidates are appealing to the party's conservative base.

"We've got five candidates now fumbling to move to the right of one another," Madrid said. "It's going to be hard to distinguish any of them on this. It's going to come down to 'How high do you want to build the wall?' "

Republican leaders in California, however, believe that their party is on the right side of the issue. As evidence, they cite New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat, who this month was forced into retreat after his proposal to issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants triggered an uproar.

"That was a Democratic governor in a Democratic state, home to the front-running Democratic candidate in the nation," said Rod Nehring, chairman of California's Republican Party. "Americans are interested in seeing our borders secured and our laws respected, and not undermined."

Nehring said he expects Democrats to characterize Republicans as racist and anti-immigrant, as he said they did after the passage of Proposition 187.

Rod Pacheco, who in 1996 became the first Latino Republican elected to the state Assembly in 115 years, joined many other state GOP leaders in the late 1990s in urging the party to shy away from such polarizing issues as Proposition 187.

"Hispanics are not monolithic. Some of them happen to agree that something must be done about illegal immigration," said Pacheco, who last year was elected Riverside County district attorney. "I don't think it's the issue. I think it's the way people [on both sides] talk about the issue, the way they have been demonizing the issue."

If the race for the GOP nomination is undecided when California holds its presidential primary Feb. 5, the anti-illegal immigrant rhetoric will probably get sharper, analysts say.

"It's going to take more than a mere statement to move California voters," said political scientist John J. Pitney Jr. of Claremont McKenna College, a former Republican Party official.

Pitney doubts that the GOP's stance on illegal immigration will have a major effect on the party in the years ahead, because, he said, most Latino voters abandoned the party after Proposition 187. Also blunting the effect is the fallout of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which helped reframe illegal immigration as a national security issue.

Still, the increased focus on social and cultural fronts rather than economic issues, such as low taxes and limited government, perpetuates Republican difficulties in California.

"They don't win elections because many of their candidates and policies are more extreme than the state is," said Shaun Bowler, a political scientist at UC Riverside. "Rather than moderating their platform and backing a Republican like Schwarzenegger, there is no compromise."

www.latimes.com

What they failed to mention was why there is a sudden increase in concerned Californians. I don't believe it was political rhetoric. I think this is proof positive that clogging the streets in the hundreds of thousands waving Mexican flags pissed alot of voters off. I'm SO glad they did that - I still secretly believe that an anti-illegal mole was behind these demonstrations. It's just hard to believe that THAT many people could be that arrogant and stupid all by themselves. I know, you'll tell me about the indoctrination that's been going on, but I still am left wondering about the average IQ of the reconquista member.

Well Californians better wake up soon and make big changes in their politicans such as Boxer, Feinstien etc. Because soon there will be NO turning this around.

Over 2 million middle class Americas have departed Calif in the last 10 years, if this does not tell Calif. they have a big problem they might as well just give it up and turn it over to Mexico because it is almost to the "point of no return", already. Time is running out!



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PLEASE TAKE ACTION!!!! 12/5
HELP STOP "NORTH CAROLINA COMMUNITY COLLEGES" FROM ADMITTING ILLEGALS !!(This could come to your community college next)
WATCH VIDEO!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zxJZBecp_0
ACTION THREAD( Instructions @ contact information)
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-92808.html
WHAT WOULD WE DO WITHOUT ALIPAC Please Contribute!!
http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=C ... page&pid=9

Originally Posted by SOSADFORUS

Well Californians better wake up soon and make big changes in their politicans such as Boxer, Feinstien etc. Because soon there will be NO turning this around.

Over 2 million middle class Americas have departed Calif in the last 10 years, if this does not tell Calif. they have a big problem they might as well just give it up and turn it over to Mexico because it is almost to the "point of no return", already. Time is running out!



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PLEASE TAKE ACTION!!!! 12/5
HELP STOP "NORTH CAROLINA COMMUNITY COLLEGES" FROM ADMITTING ILLEGALS !!(This could come to your community college next)
WATCH VIDEO!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zxJZBecp_0
ACTION THREAD( Instructions @ contact information)
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-92808.html
WHAT WOULD WE DO WITHOUT ALIPAC Please Contribute!!
http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=C ... page&pid=9

Well I would sure like to see that. I know if a good candidate runs against Thompson, I'll work for him/her and walk the tracts for him/her. This is getting serious here and I'm seriously thinking of finding a place other than CA to live. I was born and raised here and it is now a garbage can. We have MS-13 gangs in Santa Rosa and the la-la-la- liberals just stick their heads back in their wine glasses and pretend everything is under control.

Originally Posted by Gogo

Originally Posted by SOSADFORUS

Well Californians better wake up soon and make big changes in their politicans such as Boxer, Feinstien etc. Because soon there will be NO turning this around.

Over 2 million middle class Americas have departed Calif in the last 10 years, if this does not tell Calif. they have a big problem they might as well just give it up and turn it over to Mexico because it is almost to the "point of no return", already. Time is running out!



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PLEASE TAKE ACTION!!!! 12/5
HELP STOP "NORTH CAROLINA COMMUNITY COLLEGES" FROM ADMITTING ILLEGALS !!(This could come to your community college next)
WATCH VIDEO!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zxJZBecp_0
ACTION THREAD( Instructions @ contact information)
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-92808.html
WHAT WOULD WE DO WITHOUT ALIPAC Please Contribute!!
http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=C ... page&pid=9

Well I would sure like to see that. I know if a good candidate runs against Thompson, I'll work for him/her and walk the tracts for him/her. This is getting serious here and I'm seriously thinking of finding a place other than CA to live. I was born and raised here and it is now a garbage can. We have MS-13 gangs in Santa Rosa and the la-la-la- liberals just stick their heads back in their wine glasses and pretend everything is under control.

Well we are with you Gogo, there is nothing I'd rather see more than Law. order, culture and patriotism return to Calif.

I was born in Alhambra and raised in El Monte once a beautiful little town, I went back there a few years ago and belive me I did not recognize it, I felt like I was in Tijauana. I was so happy I got out in 1980 after I seen the change.

The hard part there is getting people to see it and willing to fight it and not be affraid to be called a racist ( they don't understand it is a ploy to keep the residence from fighting back).

The main reason I left is you could not get people to fight back, I wanted my kids out of the school system, I seen even then the schools being taken over, but no way could I have been prepared or foreseen what I witnessed when I went back a couple years ago.

But I will do what ever I can to help Calif. out...nothing I like better than making a pest of myself with Boxer, Feinstein or Pelosi except maybe maker a bigger pest of myself with Kennedy!! I love being a thorn in his side.

Thanks for the nice comments sosad. Quite often members post negative comments about Californians but many are doing what we can.

We'll never forget how Prop 187 was voted on and struck down by a judge. We tried to get some kind of control and got slapped down. And that was way before the other states saw any problem.

So we're now all in this together nationwide now.

Your welcome Jean, and you are right "we are all in this together"

I still have a special place in my heart for Calif. Outside of it being one of the most beautiful states in the Nation, I grew up there, I still have family there and both of my parents are buried at Forest Lawn in Pamona.

And Calif. is still filled with alot of very good caring American Patriots !!

Originally Posted by jean

Thanks for the nice comments sosad. Quite often members post negative comments about Californians but many are doing what we can.

We'll never forget how Prop 187 was voted on and struck down by a judge. We tried to get some kind of control and got slapped down. And that was way before the other states saw any problem.

So we're now all in this together nationwide now.

Yep the will of the people overturned by ONE person. We have a few friends who are attorneys. One said, the most important positions that the American people need to worry about is the judges. Congress is important, but the judges are more important. If that hasn't turned out to be true because of all the judicial activism we see on the bench. How can ONE person turn over the will of a Democratic society is beyond me.

Originally Posted by sofedup

I think this is proof positive that clogging the streets in the hundreds of thousands waving Mexican flags pissed alot of voters off. I'm SO glad they did that - I still secretly believe that an anti-illegal mole was behind these demonstrations. It's just hard to believe that THAT many people could be that arrogant and stupid all by themselves. I know, you'll tell me about the indoctrination that's been going on, but I still am left wondering about the average IQ of the reconquista member.

Believe it, the reconquistas did it to themselves. Their average IQ is about 85.

When the judge struck down 187 a lot of California voters both democrat and republican stopped voting. I have been a democrat for 40 years and the only reason I haven't switched to Independent is I am waiting for all the calls we get flooded with around election time so that I can tell them what I think of their candidates and that I am writing in Lou Dobbs.

My husband is retired from one of the largest Unions in California and as he said the AFL-CIO does not speak for it's people. It's interesting that when the Comprehensive Immigration Bill was in the Senate we got numerous calls from his Union tellings us they were against the Bill and urging us to call our Senators and tell them we were against it.

I think most of us Californians would like to get rid of the 9th Circuit Judges, we didn't elect them and they have ruled California long enough.