Thread: Why GOP won’t pass real immigration reform anytime soon

By Paul Waldman December 31 at 2:09 PM

While few believe the next two years are going to see much in the way of big, consequential legislation, there is still hope among some Republicans that Congress can pass comprehensive immigration reform, and thus show Hispanic voters that the GOP is not intractably hostile to them. The other day, Senator Lindsey Graham said, “If we don’t at least make a down payment on solving the problem and rationally dealing with the 11 million, if we become the party of self-deportation in 2015 and 2016, then the chance of winning the White House I think is almost non-existent.”

But in this coming Sunday’s New York Times Magazine, Marco Rubio — the Republican most closely associated with comprehensive reform — shows decidedly less urgency about the issue. Here’s an excerpt from the interview — note the last part in particular:

You suffered politically for trying to push a sweeping immigration overhaul with a pathway to citizenship. What lesson did you draw from that?

That there now exists an incredible level of mistrust on anything massive that the government does.

In your book, you propose a piecemeal approach starting with more border security and ending with permanent residency. Are you dropping the idea of citizenship for those who came here illegally?

Once you have permanent residency, which is a green card, existing law allows you to apply for citizenship.

What about members of Congress who say they cannot vote for anything that would allow a pathway to citizenship?

We might prohibit people who came here illegally and got green cards under this process from ever becoming citizens. And if that’s what we have to do to get this thing passed, I would be open to it. But I don’t think that’s a wise thing to do.

Do you think the Republicans need to have some sort of immigration solution before 2016?

No. Those who argue that this will be a bonanza for Republicans are not telling the truth. Those who argue that we should do it for the purpose of politics are also mis-analyzing the issue.

It’s worth recalling the journey Rubio has traveled on this issue since he got elected six years ago. He gained his seat in 2010 as a tea party insurgent and before long was being hailed as the Republican Party’s savior, a young up-and-comer who had the support of the far right and could solve the party’s demographic problems. But when he tried to craft a comprehensive immigration bill, he suddenly found himself condemned as a traitor by the tea partiers who raised him up in the first place. No longer the fresh new thing, Rubio surely knows that if there’s a path to the 2016 GOP nomination for him, it isn’t going to involve vigorous advocacy for comprehensive reform. So it isn’t surprising to see him taking the position that while he still believes in it, there’s no hurry.

He’s also right that passing reform wouldn’t be a “bonanza for Republicans,” though I’m not sure than anyone is actually claiming it would be. People like Graham argue that it’s necessary though not sufficient for a GOP victory in 2016, a way to at least hold the party’s margin of defeat among Hispanics to a tolerable level.

But let’s be honest: Most Republicans in Congress don’t really want to do anything on immigration beyond building more fences. The more moderate voices on the issue, like Rubio, hope that they can start with some kind of border security measures, and then that will open up the space to address the undocumented population. There are good reasons to doubt, however, that they would ever be able to get to the second part of that process. Conservatives often say, “Secure the borders first!”, but never define quite what “secure” means. Unless we’re going to turn the entire country into East Berlin circa 1972, the border can never be 100 percent secure, which means that the conservatives will always be able to insist that we can’t deal with the undocumented yet because the borders aren’t secure.

The problem conservative Republicans have with a path to citizenship (or some other kind of legal status) doesn’t just have to do with unsecured borders, it’s that they’re just opposed to granting those immigrants legal status, period. That would still be true even if we built a thousand more miles of fences.

That’s where the center of gravity in the congressional GOP is, which means that the question “Should they pass comprehensive reform before 2016?” doesn’t really need an answer. However much political benefit they might get from it, they aren’t going to pass reform, for the simple reason that not enough of them support it. And even if a Republican were elected in 2016, they still probably wouldn’t pass comprehensive reform. There would probably be a border security bill, because that’s something nearly all Republicans support. But a path to citizenship? Not as long as Republicans control Congress. Even if Marco Rubio were the president.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...-anytime-soon/

Originally Posted by Jean

But let’s be honest: Most Republicans in Congress don’t really want to do anything on immigration beyond building more fences. The more moderate voices on the issue, like Rubio, hope that they can start with some kind of border security measures, and then that will open up the space to address the undocumented population.

Close, but not quite. Rubio may be sincere (I wasn't following him or the Tea Party back then), but the actual problem is that the Republican leadership has no intention of doing anything that they don't have to do. Right now, all they have to do is continue to huff and puff about 'Bama's executive amnesty. 'Bama's action is actually giving the Republican leadership exactly what the leadership's big-money donors want: surplus labor. Surplus labor makes working people feel insecure about their jobs; the big-money donors want that. Surplus labor keep wages down and profits up; the big-money donors want that.

Lat year's Senate bill included a five year phase-in of Universal E-Verify. I haven't heard about that provision since. Unless Senators Sessions and Cruz decide to raise the issue again, patriots can forget about border security. Removing the jobs magnet is the only thing which will shut off the flow of illegals. Without E-Verify more fences are a delusion which will be intended to fool Americans, while illegals continue to pour into our country.
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Americans first in this magnificent country

American jobs for American workers

Fair trade, not free trade

While few believe the next two years are going to see much in the way of big, consequential legislation, there is still hope among some Republicans that Congress can pass comprehensive immigration reform, and thus show Hispanic voters that the GOP is not intractably hostile to them. The other day, Senator Lindsey Graham said, “If we don’t at least make a down payment on solving the problem and rationally dealing with the 11 million, if we become the party of self-deportation in 2015 and 2016, then the chance of winning the White House I think is almost non-existent.”

There are so many problems with this statement, I don't know where to begin. But lets try to start with this simple fact: There is no race card to being a Republican or an American Voter, thus, whatever your historic ancestors national origin was or what language they spoke is 100% IRRELEVANT in the United States of America. Passing "comprehensive immigration reform" not only helps no one but the illegals already here and the legals yet to be here, neither group votes. So please tell me how in the hell a member of the United States Senate who claims to be a Republican, an American, a lawyer, and is selected by the media to be a spokesman on politics, believes otherwise?

It's time for Republicans, and I mean all Republicans, to stand up and actually be Republicans, a party that was formed exclusively to end slavery and establish equal and better individual rights for all Americans, regardless of race or national origin. That means in Republicans for Dummies terms that we do not ever pursue votes based on race or national origin, because we are just and thus blind to that voter characteristic, and rightly so. That is what the 14th Amendment is all about. Yet, here we have a Moron calling himself a Republican stating that we must harm our citizens, hurt our workers, and in-debt our nation with "comprehensive immigration reform" to get "Hispanic" votes to win a Presidential election.

The absurdity of Graham's statement is a disgrace to American politics, because for it to be accurate one would have to believe that Republicans seek votes based on race and national origin, a violation of the very Constitutional Amendment that our party was formed to achieve and over which the bloodiest war was ever fought to win and that "Hispanic" voters really aren't American voters like everyone else, they're weird voters who care nothing about themselves, their fellow citizens, their fellow workers, their country, or the proven massive unpaid unaffordable burden illegal and excess legal immigration has on our nation.

So, since neither is true, it's time for all Republicans to drop the "Hispanic" vote charade, to stop degrading Hispanic voters as if they don't think and operate their lives the same as any American because they're more interested in amnesty for some illegal 8th cousin 10 x times removed trying to sneak into the country to work by day and run drugs or whatever by night, and that they're not like other American voters.

The crowd Graham is speaking to when he goes on the air with this immigration crap is not Republican, it's not even American, it's foreign lobbyists representing foreign interests, and one can only wonder why someone, anyone, anywhere in the American media, perhaps starting with the Washington Post, hasn't asked Lindsey Graham who these lobbyists and foreign interests are and what do they really want, because one thing we already know with certainty, is that whatever it may be, it is not in the best interest of the American people or the United States of America.