Thread: Reuters: Anti-immigration will fade away?

[AS long as there are still 20 million illegal aliens in this country and hundreds of thousands more coming in every year across the border it won't fade away]

Anti-immigration fervor may fade in election
Fri Feb 8, 2008 11:58am EST
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By Tim Gaynor

PHOENIX (Reuters) - What a difference a few weeks make -- at least when it comes to the U.S. presidential campaign and the hot issue of immigration.

When the White House race began in earnest with the first party nominating contests in Iowa in January, a broad field of Republican candidates vied to demonstrate their toughness on illegal immigration, pledging more border enforcement and a crackdown on illegal workers.

But with a narrowing of the races to secure the Republican and Democratic nominations ahead of November's general election, the issue could slip lower down the agenda as far as the candidates are concerned, analysts say.

"Looking forward to the general election, it's not that immigration is going to be redefined, it's just going to go away," predicted Steven Camarota, research director of the Center for Immigration Studies think-tank, which advocates reduced immigration.

Sen. John McCain emerged from coast-to-coast "Super Tuesday" nominating contests as the most likely Republican candidate and all but sealed the deal when his nearest rival, Mitt Romney, pulled out on Thursday.

McCain -- viewed as soft on illegal immigration by his conservative critics -- co-sponsored a comprehensive immigration overhaul that was nixed by the Senate in June. His position earned McCain the lasting enmity of many Republican voters who will likely push him to take a harder line.

On the Democratic side, the race is down to Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton, who fought to a virtual draw in the February 5 voting. They both favor measures set out in the failed immigration bill, which sought to combine tougher border security with a path to legal status for many of the 12 million illegal immigrants living in the shadows.

Early Republican front-runner Romney, who ran terse television advertisements promising get-tough measures on illegal immigrants, is now out of the race. Mike Huckabee, who got endorsement from the Minutemen civilian border patrol group, is now seen as extremely unlikely to stop McCain. Continued...

"With Romney and Huckabee fading away, you essentially have different flavors of the same proposal," said Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University in Texas.

TAKING THE MIDDLE GROUND

The question of what to do with millions of illegal immigrants has been a hot-button topic for months in the United States, and consistently ranks among the top three issues for voters, alongside the economy and the war in Iraq.

Many Americans see illegal immigrants as a drain on jobs and resources such as schools and health care. With a recession looming, anti-immigrant feeling may intensify.

Others argue that most work illegal immigrants hard in often low-paid jobs that would otherwise go unfilled.

The candidates who are eventually picked to run for president by each party may try to avoid discussing immigration, although they are unlikely to be successful. When forced to address the issue, they could seek the hitherto elusive middle ground, analysts said.

"Presidential candidates from both parties are going to want to avoid it, and when they can't avoid it, they are going to want to straddle," said Tamar Jacoby, a senior research fellow at the Manhattan Institute think-tank, who supported the bipartisan Senate immigration bill.

"If you go too far in the restrictionist direction it's going to lose you Latinos, if you go too far in the pro-immigration direction, it's going to lose you some backlash voters," she added.

The problem is especially acute for McCain, who needs the votes of his party's strident anti-immigration wing and will be under intense pressure to toughen his position. Continued...

The issue is certain to loom large in the race for Congress, where all 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for grabs on November 4, as well as 35 Senate seats and 11 state governorships.

"Republicans running for .... Congress and state and local offices, almost all of them are going to run on illegal immigration," said Frank Sharry, of the National Immigration Forum.

"Whereas most Americans think mass deportations are unrealistic and undesirable, there's a significant number of Republicans who think it is a desirable policy."

(To read more about the U.S. political campaign, visit Reuters "Tales from the Trail: 2008" online at blogs.reuters.com/trail08/

(Editing by Frances Kerry and Alan Elsner)


http://www.reuters.com/article/politics ... 7520080208

It will fade away cause we will be the minority with no representation in the congress.

I said that unless we had anybody but McCain
the illegal immigration issue would be off the table

McCain cannot attack Hillary or Obama on this issue
because he agrees with them on it

Originally Posted by Dianne

It will fade away cause we will be the minority with no representation in the congress.

Oh, not to worry Dianne, we're already there. Let me get in a plug to Michael Parenti's book on the distribution of wealth and influence within our political system:

"Democracy for the Few" - an excellent, if challenging read...
http://www.michaelparenti.org/DemocracyForFew.html

The issue is certain to loom large in the race for Congress, where all 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for grabs on November 4, as well as 35 Senate seats and 11 state governorships.

We are going to have to work on the House & Senate. The issue of illegal immigration is getting larger and larger.

Populist - I agree. While many folks here are understandably focused on the Prez candidate situation, I say 'don't take our eyes off the ball' - that is, on Congress, pending legislation [Border Security, Employer Sanctions, etc], and state/local initiatives - there is, after all, lots of things going on with those too ...even as we speak...

Update: With Reps. like Hunter and Tancredo back to their daily duties we can re-enlist their help to get the Border Fence and Illegal Employment stuff going in a serious way. ... Just a thought...

Originally Posted by PhredE

Populist - I agree. While many folks here are understandably focused on the Prez candidate situation, I say 'don't take our eyes off the ball' - that is, on Congress, pending legislation [Border Security, Employer Sanctions, etc], and state/local initiatives - there is, after all, lots of things going on with those too ...even as we speak...

Anyone who has the time, it would be good to call/write your senators and Congressmen (and those that will be running for seats) to remind them that illegal immigration is still a HUGE issue. And don't forget your state legislators!

The Exec. branch is just a POS anyway..A restrictionist Congress will block ONE MORE OPEN BORDERS DICTATOR!

DC works in paradoxical ways...probably get more done with the open border buffoon we end up with in the WH.
Look how it worked out with Pelosi and Bush in charge.

Not when American citizens hear about stories like this one with LEPROSY breaking out in Arkansas.

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-102845.html

In fact, it's going to become an even bigger issue.

If MSM thinks they can push the 'delete' button to make us disappear, they have another think coming! Wait until all the OLB Congressmen and Senators are up for re-election!!! They'll all be looking for gov. handouts, along with their illegal amigos!