The crushing defeat suffered by Republicans in last year’s Congressional elections was not solely because of the war in Iraq. A half-dozen or more seats in the House of Representatives were lost because of the way in which some of the more visible members of the Grand Old Party (GOP) rejected a compromise on immigration policy. They categorically refused to consider even the hypothetical possibility of granting legal status to undocumented foreigners.
“We are after one goal – the mass deportation of illegal immigrants,” said Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI.), chair of the House Judiciary Committee and author of the Border Protection, Antiterror and Illegal Immigration Control Act. This act calls for severe criminal penalties for both illegal immigrants and those who employ them. As a result of the crackdown policy, the popularity of Republicans has dropped precipitously among the Spanish-speaking electorate, which gave President Bush 40 percent of its votes in the 2004 election.
The only conclusion that can be reached when evaluating the actions of Republican leaders in the House of Representatives is that they did not take the lessons of 2006 to heart. They continue to repeat the same mistakes by refusing to pay attention to the mood among Spanish speakers. And Latinos have not been shy about expressing their views of immigration policy. They are for secure borders and the deportation of foreigners who have committed crimes, but against mass deportations. Those Republicans in Congress who represent districts with a significant number of Spanish-speaking voters and who paid attention to this message managed to hold on to their seats in the 2006 elections.
This September, the Accountability in Enforcing Immigration Laws Act of 2007 was introduced in the House for consideration. This act was authored by Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL). If this legislation is passed, local police with be given virtually the same authority as agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
City and state law enforcement officials will be able to conduct investigations of and arrest illegal immigrants, whose stays in local and state prisons will be paid for from the federal budget.
Rep. Brown-Waite asserts that her initiative simply reflects the mood at local levels throughout the country. She claims that city and state politicians in many areas of the country have already come out in support of this act.
“Illegal immigrants are a huge weight on the shoulders of regular Americans,” stated Rep. Brian Bilbrey (R-CA), who co-authored the act with Rep. Brown-Waite and heads the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, in an interview with The Washington Times. “They cost taxpayers in San Diego County $101 million annually."
In the interest of fairness, it would have been nice if Rep. Bilbrey had also revealed how much money illegal immigrants in San Diego and its outskirts pay in taxes. He should have also addressed how local businesses would manage without them.
But to return to Rep. Brown-Waite’s piece of legislation. Not only does this document delegate the responsibilities of federal agents to local police officers, it also calls for tough sanctions against authorities in so-called sanctuary cities, which are cities whose governments have prohibited local police officers from working with ICE agents.
“Isn’t it disturbing that police officers in these municipalities are not allowed to establish the immigration status of people who have legitimately come under suspicion?" she said. "After all, they could come across people who have ignored deportation orders or who are even terrorists."
Under Rep. Brown-Waite’s plan, cities that do not make the necessary changes to their immigration policy will face economic sanctions, including a 25 percent reduction in subsidies from the Department of Homeland Security. Almost $1 billion will be given to state and municipal governments that are prepared to arrested illegal immigrants and hold them in jail. It is true that in Colorado, Oklahoma, Georgia and Arizona, strict measures against illegal immigrants have worked. Republicans and even some conservative Democrats in these states will welcome Rep. Brown-Waite's bill. Laws that legislatures in these states have passed this year have forced illegal immigrants to flee for less dangerous places.
“I can’t conceal how pleased I am that my law has forced illegal immigrants to pack their suitcases and leave Oklahoma,” said State Senator Randy Terrell in an interview with USA Today. “If you want to know my opinion, I would be happy if we could kick out all unwanted guests in our state.”
The happiness that Sen. Terrell and others like him feel is hardly justified, judging by what awaits their party in the future. The tactical successes of those in favor of deportation represent a real risk to the political future of Republicans. As Richard Nadler notes in The Wall Street Journal, the GOP's inclination towards mass deportations has alienated many Spanish-speaking Americans. He writes that under the current circumstances, Democrats have an excellent chance of gaining tens of thousands of new voters in New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado, Florida, Iowa and Arizona. If this happens, then within the next few years both the executive and legislative branches in Washington will be controlled by the Democratic Party.
Mr. Nadler warns that a real political catastrophe awaits Republicans in the near future. Over the past decade, Spanish-speaking residents have been responsible for 50 percent of the population growth in the United States. This includes over three million children who have a least one parent who is undocumented.
“As future voters, they will probably not forgive politicians who wanted to kick their parents out of the country," writes Mr. Nadler. "Republicans still have time to come to their senses and fix their immigration policy. Many Latinos agree with their ideas on business, education, tax cuts and abortion. To avoid losing this group of voters, Republicans must abandon this strict, amoral and unconstructive deportation policy. The GOP can expect hard times if it does not do this.”
It is not difficult to agree with this conclusion.
