Thread: Romney immigration view creates dilemma

journalgazette.net
Julie Hirschfeld Davis | Bloomberg News
Published: January 18, 2012 3:00 a.m.



MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – In Florida, Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney airs campaign commercials in Spanish telling Hispanics he’s “one of us.”

In South Carolina, he touts the endorsement of Kris Kobach, an attorney and activist who has spearheaded anti-immigration laws across the country.

Romney’s straddle reflects a dilemma he and the Republican Party face if he becomes the nominee: that his aggressive stance against illegal immigration during the primary may become a drag on efforts to appeal to Hispanics whose votes could determine the outcome of the presidential race in states such as Colorado, Virginia and Florida.

“The conventional wisdom and the general fear is right, that some Republicans, and some of the most important Republicans with the loudest microphones, are digging a very big hole for themselves that’s going to be hard to get out of,” said Tamar Jacoby, a Republican immigration specialist who has advised Sen. John McCain and former House speaker Newt Gingrich on the issue and is neutral in this year’s race.

Romney “is unfortunately taking one of the harshest tones,” added Jacoby, who heads ImmigrationWorks USA, a national federation of employers pressing for new laws on the issue.

During a debate in Myrtle Beach Monday night, Romney said he opposes any measure allowing undocumented workers – or their children – a chance to stay in the country or obtain citizenship quickly.

“We have to follow the law and insist that those who have come here illegally ultimately return home, apply, get in line with everyone else” to gain legal status, Romney said. “To protect our legal immigration system, we have got to protect our borders and stop the flood of illegal immigration.”

Romney also rejected the idea that his position would alienate Hispanic voters, provided his message is coupled with a vow that he will improve economic growth. “As long as we communicate to the people of all backgrounds in this country that it can be better, and that America is a land of opportunity, we’ll get those votes,” he said.

That message may resonate with Republican voters in South Carolina, which holds its primary Saturday and was home to the nation’s fastest-growing Hispanic population during the past decade, according to the 2010 census.

Republican presidential candidates of the recent past, including Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush, and McCain, the unsuccessful 2008 nominee, favored creating a pathway to citizenship for some undocumented workers. In 2000, Bush drew about 35 percent of the Hispanic vote and almost 40 percent in 2004.

McCain, who backed off his advocacy for a path to citizenship during his presidential run, found support among 31 percent, according to a Pew Research Center report.

The Hispanic population almost doubled over the last decade in Nevada, North Carolina and Virginia, states President Obama won in 2008 after they went for Bush in 2004, census data show.

A Univision News/Latino Decisions poll conducted Oct. 21 to Nov. 1 found Romney drawing support from 24 percent of Hispanics to 67 percent for Obama.

JournalGazette.net - Politics | The Journal Gazette | Fort Wayne, IN

I'm sick of all of these lying articles that claim most legal American Hispanics support illegal immigration and amnesty and oppose candidates that would enforce our existing laws instead.

This is a RACIST article because it depicts Hispanics as a monolithic criminal culture that supports criminality and invasion.

We are going to call them on this racism very soon.

W

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

This is a RACIST article because it depicts Hispanics as a monolithic criminal culture that supports criminality and invasion.

I agree. As I recall there is or was a website, called "you don't speak for us" that was Hispanics speaking out against illegal immigration. There are many that do not support illegal immigration.