Thread: Republicans must change on immigration, Navarrette

Republicans must change on immigration

By Ruben Navarrette
2:00 a.m. February 8, 2009

There has been a misunderstanding. According to the chatter, many Republicans seem to think they lost the Hispanic vote because their party took a stand against illegal immigration.

That's pretty much what radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh said during a recent interview with fellow talker Sean Hannity. I like listening to Limbaugh, but what gibberish. That theory makes the GOP sound almost noble, as if it's paying a price for its convictions. Yet it is Republican lawmakers who tend to weaken employer sanctions – perhaps the most effective immigration enforcement measure in existence.

It also has a ring of resignation, suggesting that the only way for the GOP to make nice with America's largest minority is to reverse itself and embrace an open border. Wrong again. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, most Latinos support reasonable enforcement measures and don't begrudge the United States the right to protect its borders.
Worse, the theory implies that if the GOP could relive the last several years, it wouldn't do anything differently.

I hope that's not true. They say elephants never forget, but is it too much to ask for them to learn a lesson once in a while? Otherwise, with the country on the march to being one-fourth Hispanic in 30 years, Republicans may become extinct.

Let me be clear. The reason for the Hispanic exodus from the GOP is not because Republicans took a stand against illegal immigration. It's the way they did it – or at least many of them did it. As always, the devil was in the details.

Since the election, I've heard from hundreds of Hispanics who are still steamed at the GOP. That is no surprise. Time heals wounds, but this is recent history. (Ask the Mexicans about the Spanish. My people have been known to hold a grudge for 500 years.) Hispanics tell me they're angry that the immigration debate became so nasty, that employers escaped most of the criticism, that the tone went from anti-illegal immigrant to anti-Hispanic, that Latino culture and bilingualism were attacked, and that some Americans made the same argument that was made in previous decades against the Germans, Chinese, Irish, Italians and Jews – namely, that the real concern was about America admitting an inferior grade of immigrant.

Hispanics also resent the racism, the reluctance of many Americans to empathize with immigrants as similar to their ancestors, the assumption that anyone who looks Hispanic must have only recently arrived in this country, and the fact that opportunistic politicians proposed half-baked solutions for closing the border and getting rid of illegal immigrants.

Just look at Republicans in Congress who have put their weight behind efforts to declare English the national language, deny citizenship to U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants, and empower local police to enforce federal immigration law. All of these things are opposed by most Latinos.

Where the GOP went wrong was in letting the loudest and shrillest voices carry the party banner – and to what end? To scare up a few votes from skittish Americans convinced that taco trucks cruising neighborhoods or the option to “press 2 for Spanishâ€

Huh, it makes you wonder if he is willing to accept our opposition to amnesty.

Sorry Rubin, Republicans opposed to illegal immigration hold nothing against American Hispanics or American Latinos.

They resent par example, the $10 Billion a year spent by Mexifornia on illegal aliens in just 3 areas of government spending, education, healthcare and incarcerations, that they are now asking federal taxpayers to bail out for them to the tune of $30 Billion for just 3 budget cycles. They resent par example, the $2 Billion a year in deflated wages in North Carolina because of illegal aliens. They resent par example, the 4,500 Americans murdered in crimes or killed in automobile accidents every single year by illegal aliens.

It matters not to anyone whether the illegal aliens are Latino, Hispanic, Asian, African, Anglo or what country they came from.

I think what matters to Republicans, Democrats and Independents who are American Citizens, no matter what the ethnic or national origin of their ancestors might be, is that we have illegal aliens in our country that we don't want here because we don't need them, we don't want them, we don't have any jobs for them, and we can't afford them.

It's time for illegal aliens to gather their things, pack their bags, round up their families, gas up their car or van, truck or bus and head home to their land of citizenship ... and stay there.

It's not complicated. It's very simple.

Hispanics also resent the racism, the reluctance of many Americans to empathize with immigrants as similar to their ancestors

And I resent the racism displayed by "The Race" and their refusal to be like immigrants similar to my ancestors. If they insist on setting themselves apart, what do they expect.

Originally Posted by Richard

Huh, it makes you wonder if he is willing to accept our opposition to amnesty.

It would appear that he has a different agenda.

Originally Posted by ReggieMay

Hispanics also resent the racism, the reluctance of many Americans to empathize with immigrants as similar to their ancestors

And I resent the racism displayed by "The Race" and their refusal to be like immigrants similar to my ancestors. If they insist on setting themselves apart, what do they expect.

They "expect" to violate our laws, enter our country illegally, steal our jobs, deflate our wages, kill our citizens, sue our government, run drugs, deplete our money supply and increase our government costs for education, welfare, health care and incarceration costs to name a few, so they can call us racists and xenophobes to express their appreciation.

Oh Ruben,

You mean McCain's Amnesty promises and work with Ted Kennedy and Hispandering to the Spanish media and hiring of Juan Hernandez was not enough? Does McCain need to change on immigration?

W

[quote]The group defines hate speech as “dehumanizing metaphors,â€

Why is it that when people like this talk about immigration they only mention Hispanic's and omit the illegal part?
Sounds a little racist to me.
If America were to adopt an open border policy it would not be just for Hispanic's (that would be racist) it would enclude every country in the world and all anyone would need to do would be to show up on our shore to be welcomed.
America is a big country but if you look at a world map and compare it to the rest of the world it ain't so big after all. Now what do these open border advocates think they should do when all these non english and non spanish people start showing up looking for work, food, housing etc....?
We could easily have fifty million people at our doorstep needing help in no time at all.
What will they do with them?

IF pro amnesty was the answer, McCain, co-sponsor of the latest and greatest amnesty bill, would have won by a landslide. There could not have been a better Republican candidate to prove that pro-amnesty is NOT A WINNING POSITION.