Republicans can't ignore immigration

By ALFONSO AGUILAR | 1/13/11 4:38 AM EST Updated: 1/13/11 10:40 AM EST

Poll after poll shows that Americans believe in strong border security and in bringing undocumented immigrants out of the shadows. For example, 81 percent of Americans favor legalizing undocumented immigrants, according to a CNN poll.

It’s not only Democratic voters who want to see Congress provide undocumented immigrants a path to legal status but a majority of Republicans as well. According to an August POLITICO poll, 59 percent of Republican voters said they supported immigration reform that contained a legalization component.
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This means that, contrary to what we have been led to think, former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) doesn’t speak for the conservative movement on immigration — merely for a small group of anti-free-market restrictionists who say the U.S. is overpopulated and don’t want our businesses to bring in the foreign labor they need. Clearly, these are not traditional conservative positions!

With Republicans now in control of the House and increasing their numbers in the Senate, they should be aware that the American people — including most conservative voters — expect them to lead on immigration. Yet they should also realize that the American people are wary of recent “comprehensiveâ€