Immigration a hot issue in the Louisiana Senate race
Deborah Barfield Berry 2:49 p.m. CDT September 13, 2014
dailyworld.com
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(Photo: Eduardo Verdugo, AP )
WASHINGTON – With Election Day less than eight weeks away, candidates for Louisiana’s Senate seat are working to prove they’re tougher than their rivals on illegal immigration, a hot-button issue in the closely watched race.
“It seems to resonate with folks I talk to,” said retired Air Force Col. Rob Maness, a tea party favorite. “It comes up at every town hall. And we get standing ovations when I say that I’m opposed to amnesty or a pathway to citizenship — every time.”
Maness and others in the race, including Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu and Republican Rep. Bill Cassidy, have ramped up their rhetoric on immigration, outlining their positions at town halls, online and on the air. Landrieu and Cassidy recently launched ads accusing one another of being soft on border security.
“It’s kind of starting to catch the public’s attention here,” said Jeffrey Sadow, a political scientist at Louisiana State University at Shreveport. “Maybe in an election like this where it’s looking pretty close — then anything helps.”
Immigration became an even higher-profile issue in the Senate race after President Barack Obama’s recent announcement that he will delay executive action on immigration reform efforts until after the November elections.
Landrieu’s opponents say Obama made the decision to protect her and other vulnerable Senate Democrats, several of them in the South.
“President Obama made his political calculation the other day, but it doesn’t change the fact that Sen. Landrieu has supported his agenda in the past and needs to be held accountable or needs to be judged based off that support,” said Ben Voelkel, communications director for the Republican National Committee in Louisiana.
But Bernie Pinsonat, a Louisiana pollster and political consultant, said Obama’s delay probably won’t help Landrieu. That’s because Obama probably will take action on immigration before the Louisiana election is decided. Under the state’s election system, if no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote on Nov. 4, the top two vote-getters will face each other in a runoff in December.
“It certainly won’t help her cause if there’s a runoff,” Pinsonat said. “If she’s still running and the president does that, it’s another cross to bear for Landrieu related to Obama. She’s already got a head full of thorns.”
Josh Earnest, a White House spokesman, said Obama didn’t want to “inject” an executive order into the “hyper-partisan, hyper-political environment shortly before the midterms.”
Mark Krikorian with the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C., think tank that opposes legalizing undocumented immigrants, said any executive action by Obama before November would be “Christmas in September” for Republicans running against vulnerable Democrats, including Landrieu.
“I think that significantly limited his political maneuvering,” he said.
Landrieu and other vulnerable Democrats have distanced themselves from Obama’s plan to take executive action on immigration.
“We’re all frustrated with our broken immigration system, but the way forward is not unilateral by the president,” Landrieu said in a statement. “The House needs to pass or amend the bipartisan Senate bill that would secure our borders and make reforms the business community needs to grow our economy.”
Immigration became more of a campaign issue in Louisiana this summer after federal officials reported that 1,275 unaccompanied children who had crossed the Southwest border illegally had been sent to Louisiana.
Immigration is a particularly “bad issue” for Democrats in Louisiana, Pinsonat said.
Louisiana, unlike Texas, doesn’t have a significant Hispanic population that supports the comprehensive immigration changes Obama has proposed, experts say.
“Relaxing immigration laws, the way he’s doing it, is not popular in Louisiana, period,” Pinsonat said.
Conservative groups are attacking Landrieu and Cassidy on immigration, complaining that neither is tough enough. Sadow said he expects Maness will try to get the most mileage out of the issue.
“He’s so desperate to show that he’s different than any other candidate,” Sadow said. “That’s something where he could... use his outsider credentials (to say) he’s not part of Washington, which created this unworkable immigration regime.”
Maness calls himself the true conservative on the issue, arguing that Congress and the administration should focus first on securing the border. He doesn’t support programs that offer a path to citizenship for immigrants who illegally came to the U.S.
“I don’t believe comprehensive legislation does much good,” Maness said, offering the 2010 Affordable Care Act as an example. “I believe we should take it one piece at a time, but only after we secure the border and enforce our laws.”
Maness is particularly critical of Cassidy’s positions on immigration.
“We think that’s his weakest area,” Maness said. “The National Republican Senatorial Committee is running an ad for him trying to make him look strong on immigration... He’s all over the map.”
The ad launched last week features Cassidy calling the border a “mess” and claiming that Obama and Landrieu would make the problem worse because they support a citizenship option for undocumented immigrants. Cassidy and other Republicans refer to that prospect as “amnesty.”
“I oppose amnesty,” Cassidy says in the ad. “We must secure that border now.”
Earlier this summer, Cassidy and other Louisiana Republicans urged Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, to call the Senate back from recess to vote on an immigration bill.
In July, Cassidy introduced legislation to speed up the deportation process for unaccompanied children who illegally entered the U.S. The bill has no co-sponsors and no action has been taken on it.
“This highlights how President Obama’s failure to secure the borders and properly enforce our immigration laws has impacted Louisiana,” Cassidy said in a statement.
Landrieu has begun running her own ad about her votes on legislation to increase patrols at the border, block measures offering undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship, and support funding for more fences at the border.
“On border security — I’ll put my record up against anyone, especially Bill Cassidy,” Landrieu says in the ad.
Landrieu also voted against Obama’s request that Congress approve $3.7 billion in emergency funding to deal with the unaccompanied minors, saying it didn’t include enough accountability.
“I cannot support spending significant taxpayer money without strong accountability and clear goals to ensure that we get the results we all want,” Landrieu said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the proposal before the Senate does not go far enough to ensure that these children are reconnected in the countries of origin with safe and protective families.”
Immigration issues are expected to only become more of a flashpoint in the Senate race.
“The question is, can Landrieu get out from under it?” said Pinsonat. “If there is a runoff... it certainly will be something she’ll have to deal with.”
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