Thread: Immigration policy a GOP weak spot ~ ALIPAC Mentioned

POLITICO

Immigration policy a GOP weak spot

By ELISEO MEDINA | 4/21/10 4:56 AM EDT


Polls reveal that more than 87 percent of Latino voters nationwide will not support political candidates who are against full immigration reform.
AP

It’s just the start of the 2010 election season, and Republican candidates are already lining up to use the same old anti-immigrant rhetoric.

We’ve heard these scripts before. Rather than offer real solutions to help put the United States back on track, these Republican candidates are pushing an extremist, anti-immigrant agenda to score political points with their base.

This may appeal to the virulently anti-immigrant sentiments of certain fringe groups and many far-right GOP primary voters. But it is not a message that Latino voters will reward in November.

Latinos are the largest minority group in the country, and they typically use immigration reform as a litmus test to judge a candidate’s views on the Latino community.

Poll after poll reveals that more than 87 percent of Latino voters nationwide will not support political candidates who are against full immigration reform.

Yet the anti-immigrant platforms of California gubernatorial candidates Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman, for example, have led much of the political news.

Poizner suggested resurrecting Proposition 187, the controversial 1994 anti-immigrant law overturned by the courts.

His opponent, Meg Whitman, named former California Gov. Pete Wilson — the Prop 187 architect — as her campaign chairman. Since then, she’s strongly supported extending the border wall, blocking undocumented students from attending college and expanding the flawed E-Verify enforcement program.

Competing to offer the toughest anti-immigrant views, Florida’s Republican Senate candidates, former state House Speaker Marco Rubio and Gov. Charlie Crist, both came out against a reasonable path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

Each candidate was given the option to support comprehensive immigration reform that would establish a path for illegal immigrants to become legal citizens.

Instead, Rubio and Crist voiced strong support for sealing the borders and sending immigrants “to the back of the lineâ€

Polls reveal that more than 87 percent of Latino voters nationwide will not support political candidates who are against full immigration reform.

What polls? From OBL Bloggers?

Dixie

Medina is up to usual tricks. We can't trust a guy who openly confers with Mexican lawmakers on US policy. As far as I know he is in violation of federal law; I complained to Senate minority counsel. Maybe should try again, although more people should help. Judicial watch had file complaints on other SEIU officials.