Tornado Alley (PROG)

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The real divide in the GOP over immigration

By Greg Sargent
June 12 at 3:33 pm



Thank you for not passing immigration reform, guys. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)

What if the real divide in the GOP over immigration reform is not between the Tea Party and establishment wings of the party, but between those in the party who have scaled down its ambitions to only winning Congressional elections and those who still hope to win the White House?

That’s what a veteran GOP operative who wants reform suggested to me today, in the wake of Eric Cantor’s loss, but more on that in a sec.

Now that multiple observers have responded to Cantor’s defeat by declaring immigration reform even deader than they pronounced it months ago (who knew there were various degrees of deadness?), proponents of reform have produced a raft of new polling designed to prod Republicans out of their own brain-deadness on the issue.

Jon Lerner, a pollster with impeccable conservative credentials, has just published a survey (funded by pro-reform Fwd.us) taken in Cantor’s district yesterday .. http://www.americansforaconservativedirection.com/va7 .. that finds only 22 percent of Republicans who voted for David Brat cited immigration as the reason, while 77 percent cited other factors. “Immigration was not a major factor in Cantor’s defeat,” Lerner concludes.

Meanwhile, veteran GOP pollster Whit Ayres released his own national survey .. http://americanactionforum.org/survey/new-aaf-gop-primary-voter-survey-finds-strong-support-for-house-immigration .. that finds four out of five GOP primary voters nationally support a “step-by-step approach to immigration reform that emphasizes several key elements, including: border enforcement, E-verify, and earned legal status with significant conditions.” That may sound surprising, but Ayres has long thought that GOP primary voters can be won over on the issue once they’re reminded .. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/08/05/gop-pollster-yes-republican-primary-voters-do-support-immigration-reform/ .. the status quo is the alternative.

All of this, of course, is beside the point, because Cantor’s loss is being interpreted as proof that reform is toxic, and what matters is the interpretation, not the reality. As Alex Roarty writes in a good post .. http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/eric-cantor-s-loss-was-a-fluke-but-it-still-reshapes-2014-20140612 , Republicans may well know immigration was not the driving reason, but the shock is enough to produce a kind of generalized paranoia among GOP officials that will only reduce their willingness to take risks.

So immigration reform really is probably deader than it was last February .. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/02/immigration_reform_is_dead_in_2014_why_house_speaker_john_boehner_is_right.html , or last November, or even last July .. http://www.politico.com/story/2013/07/behind-the-curtain-immigration-reform-heads-for-slow-death-93930.html .

What is striking about what we’re seeing now, in the rush to lower immigration reform into the ground once again, is that many Republicans still know they need immigration reform for the long term good of the party, and know that isn’t going to change. Thus you now see over a dozen GOP pollsters screaming at the Republican Party that passing reform will help them over the long term .. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/06/11/republican-pollsters-from-across-spectrum-stress-need-for-immigration-reform/ :

--- In a memo shared with Post Politics, the pollsters write that nearly half (49 percent) of Hispanic voters blame Republicans in Congress for failing to pass reform and more than three in four (76 percent) say they would be more likely to listen to what Republicans have to say on other issues if they support reform.
---

And this brings us to the real divide in the GOP on this issue.

“People talk about the establishment wing versus the Tea Party wing, but there is actually a Congressional wing and a presidential wing,” Rob Jesmer, a longtime NRSC operative who is now working for Fwd.us, tells me. “If your sole concern is winning Congressional elections, you’re not concerned about passing immigration reform. But if you want to win the White House, then you do want to pass reform, because you understand that not doing this dramatically increases the chances of Hillary Clinton becoming president.”

Jesmer isn’t being glib here. Observers such as Ron Brownstein have speculated .. http://www.nationaljournal.com/political-connections/the-one-thing-each-party-needs-to-overcome-by-2016-20140522 .. that some Republicans really may be hunkering down for the possibility that demographic realities may mean Congress will remain their sole stronghold as long as those realities remain unaddressed.

House GOP leadership aides say privately that they can always do reform in 2015. But for a host of reasons .. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/06/09/the-gop-is-steve-kings-party-next-year-it-will-be-ted-cruzs-party/ , it may well be harder (though not impossible) next year. And as Steve Benen lays out .. http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/immigration-reform-proponents-see-no-need-give#break , whatever the real meaning of Cantor’s loss, none of the basic demographic and political reasons Republicans need to do this are going anywhere.

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.. insert here a few of the comments .. and, re the first one, i've noticed 'children left at the border' is one of the in
comment talking points among conservatives these days, so inclusion of the first one .. for more on that see below ..

SteelieT
9:45 AM EST [Edited]
How many Americans would support a different twist to border control that would include our offering large bonuses to Mexican nationals (doctors, engineers, nurses, and all skilled trades) for each of these kids they are allowing to get dumped at our doorstep?

Our leaders don't have the courage and common sense to hold Mexico responsible for facilitating this mass migration of people to the US who eventually earn money and send it back to families in Mexico and other Central American countries. Mexico should pay for their selfish gains with a brain drain that compensates us for our burden
~~
sealogic
9:42 AM EST
Can an entire political party be schizophrenic? The GOP is sure giving it a go....
~~
Mooker40
9:46 AM EST
How's that? Explain yourself instead of throwing around nonsensical platitudes.
~~
PathologyDoc
10:00 AM EST [Edited]
As per their own "autopsy" report after Nov. 2012:

1. "We've got to stop alienating the young voters"
And just this week, blocked any discussion of the Senate bill to allow student loan holders to refinance. http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress/se...

2. "We've got to stop alienating gay people."
Thanks, Rick Perry, for this germane nugget: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/...

3. "We've got to stop alienating women."
George Will, please tell us more of your thoughts about how women want to be raped because they covet a victim status? http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-will...

4. "We've got to stop alienating minorities."
Immigration reform is...as dead as it gets. Thanks, guys!

And that's just in the last 10 days.

Does that clarify it enough? Or do you need someone to read it to you?
~~
sealogic
10:00 AM EST [Edited]
Between your Wall Streeters, your Teapers, your Evangelicals your (R)s just because their not Dems, your haters, your racists.....your team is so all over the place that I think it's a valid statement. Mass hysteria at the least...
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/06/12/the-real-divide-in-the-gop-over-immigration/

===

Spin Control: 3 Nativist Myths About Unaccompanied Minors – And Why They’re Wrong

Posted on Wednesday, June 11th, 2014 at 10:52 am. Written by Lauren Taylor



Anti-immigrant organizations and mainstream media have devoted much attention to the increase in numbers of migrant children crossing the US-Mexico border. On June 2, the Associated Press reported: “In the past eight months, 47,000 unaccompanied children have been apprehended along the border in the U.S. Southwest.” Last week, President Obama called the situation a humanitarian crisis, and ordered FEMA to coordinate relief efforts for young migrants.

Misinformation and political opportunism abounds.

The anti-immigrant spin machine is actively distorting this crisis and using it for its own ends.The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) .. http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/FAIR_Profile_2012.pdf , flagship organization of the anti-immigrant movement, used this crisis to drum up support – and donations – in emails sent yesterday and today. Other components of the nativist spin machine are framing the problem as a failure to enforce immigration laws, and an excess of generosity, arguing, as always for more enforcement and closed borders.

This time, they’re getting a fair bit of traction. Conservative and mainstream media like are picking up on the dehumanizing language of a “flood” or “tidal wave” of immigrant children. This natural disaster metaphor frames the crisis not as one that threatens these young people themselves – who have escaped horrible conditions and made a perilous journey – but one that threatens the place they land – where these supposed waves crash. This fear-mongering dovetails neatly with Jan Brewer’s recent claims that the administration is “dumping” immigrants in Arizona, as if these human beings are nothing but trash .. http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/06/04/did-fox-just-compare-immigrants-to-garbage/199584 .

Such dehumanizing rhetoric has no place in public discourse. We must expose the lies and manipulations of the nativist movement, and their efforts to insert their bigotry into this urgent conversation.

Below are three ways the anti-immigrant movement is spinning this humanitarian crisis – and why they’re wrong.

Myth 1: Children are coming across the border because of lax enforcement of immigration law.

Example: On Saturday, a columnist for the Los Angeles Daily News wrote “When President Obama announced a moratorium on the deportation of children, he opened the floodgates.”

Fact: The recent increase in children crossing the border alone is the result of a humanitarian crisis .. http://bit.ly/1oQTt5y .. in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Poverty, insecurity and increasing rates of violence have created a living hell. Youth in particular are targets of violence, and youth in particular are taking the extreme and calculated risk to escape.

Ev Meade, Director of the Trans-Border Institute at the University of San Diego explains the conditions in home countries that lead youth to make the dangerous journey to the US alone:

“In some cases these are kids whose parents have been killed or disappeared in drug violence. In other cases, and many of the cases from Honduras and El Salvador in particular, these are kids who are forcibly recruited into gangs, girls who are forced to be the “girlfriend” of a gang member, people who’ve been threatened with rape and murder, people who’ve been targeted by the police forces for an association with a gang in one of these countries, whether it’s a real association or not. Some of these kids also are fearing violence in their own homes.”

Do we really think that thousands of people got the false idea that immigration policy in the US has shifted that dramatically? The border patrol is five times the size it was in 1993. Immigrant detention and deportation have reached record levels in recent years.

Myth 2: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and the recent renewal announcement, is a magnet drawing more immigrants across the border.

Example: In a FAIR blog titled “DACA renewals launched and More are Invited In,” Jack Martin wrote of the increase in unaccompanied minors crossing the border: “there is no end in sight to this flood. Can anyone believe that this surge is unrelated to the adoption of DACA?”

Fact: Children crossing the border now do not qualify for DACA. To be eligible for deferred action, immigrants have to have arrived by and resided in the US since 2007. Instead, as a court decision .. http://reason.com/blog/2014/06/10/supreme-court-rules-against-immigrant-ch .. earlier this week demonstrates, the deck continues to be stacked against young immigrants.

A recent report .. http://unhcrwashington.org/children .. by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees found that 58% of unaccompanied minors crossing the border were forcibly displaced and qualified for special protections under international law. The report was based on interviews with over 400 young people who migrated alone.

“My grandmother wanted me to leave. She told me: ‘If you don’t join, the gang will shoot you. If you do join, the rival gang will shoot you—or the cops will shoot you. But if you leave, no one will shoot you.’” – Kevin, Honduras, Age 17

Despite their uniquely vulnerable situation, many of these young people can fall through the cracks, and there are not adequate legal protections or economic supports in place.

Myth 3: The only answer is to deport these children; the cost of keeping them here is too high.

Example: FAIR’s legislative update, published 6/4/14, included an article titled: “Obama’s DREAM to Cost Taxpayers Over $2 Billion.” Like NumbersUSA and CIS, FAIR holds up the Office of Management and Budget’s request .. http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/omb-child-migrants-107284.html?hp=l1 .. of $2.28 billion to resettle child migrants.

“At this point in time, it is imperative that the President of the United States himself make crystal clear that the border is not open,” argued Senator Jeff Sessions, as quoted by Breitbart, “that anybody who comes to this country illegally, young or old, will be deported, will be apprehended and deported; and that he tell the whole world to not come.”

Fact: The anti-immigrant movement would like us to believe that we cannot afford to be compassionate – that we are being tricked and taken advantage of if we recognize the humanitarian crisis happening before our eyes. They are dead wrong.

Last week, John Kerry pledged an additional $290 million in aid to Syrian refugees. That brings US humanitarian aid since the Syrian civil war began to about $2 billion. Why wouldn’t we then also allocate money for refugees arriving on our own shores?

Detention and deportation are costly. Instead of spending money to deport someone to an unstable and unsafe place and trying find their family in their home country, we can instead use resources to find a child’s nearest relative in the US. Most of those migrating have a family member here. Finding that person means that a family member can assume responsibility for the young person, and the young person can be reunited with a loved one.

We have a responsibility as a democratic country, and as a society that cares about humanitarian need. Our first priority should be to find safe places where these children can stay in the US. It is not only the right thing to do, but it is also the practical thing to do.

We must prioritize the safety and rights of the young people arriving here.

Lauren Taylor is a Field Organizer at the Center for New Community.

Image source: Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America

http://imagine2050.newcomm.org/2014/06/11/spin-control-3-nativist-myths-about-unaccompanied-minors-and-why-theyre-wrong/

See also:

Obamas destruction of America begins! HOUSTON, Texas
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=103137188

Libertarians’ scary, new guru: Why Dave Brat is no populist hero
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=103234590

ps: GO SPURS! .. wherever you stand between these two champion teams you gotta give the Spurs
top credit for the record 1st half game 3 .. now, gotta really rush to the local to watch game 4 .. grin ..