Immigration Reform - Watch Republicans Shooting Themselves in the Foot

Republicans are shooting themselves in the foot with immigration reform.  They think it is important, but can't agree on a path to citizenship for hard working immigrants who contribute to our national economy.  They claim to be supporting immigration reform, but are unable to articulate a cohesive message they can all support. They just don't get how their own immigrant heritage is the reason they are Republican Americans.

“We’re in a demographic death spiral as a party,"said Senator Lindsey Graham- Republican of South Carolina.

Two Republican leaders are sending mixed messages about immigration reform.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R- FL), the architect of a comprehensive immigration bill that would legalize 11 million undocumented immigrants, refused to say on Sunday whether he supports the legislation he helped draft. He instead claimed that the measure does not have strong border enforcement provisions and would not receive bipartisan support.

In an interview on ABC’s This Week, Rubio told the guest host Jonathan Karl that public input indicated the need to create border enforcement provisions to prevent “another wave of illegal immigration in the future.”
JONATHAN KARL: You are one the primary architect authors of the bill that came out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, immigration reform. I have a basic question, do you support your own bill?

RUBIO: I think it’s an excellent starting point. I think 95, 96 percent of the bill is in perfect shape and ready to go. But there are elements that need to be improved. [...]

KARL: If it stays the way it is on border security, do you vote for it?

RUBIO: I don’t want to get involved in the hypotheticals and ultimatums.

KARL: It’s a real possibility.

RUBIO: No, I don’t think it is. A bill without increased border security which everyone has now conceded needs to happen. The debate is about what that border security provision looks like. If we do that, the bill will have strong, bipartisan support. If we fail, we will keep trying. The only way to pass the immigration reform law out of the House and Senate so the President can sign it is if has real border security measures.

This emphasis on border security is a waste of money because it plainly doesn't work.  Moreover, border security to protect southern illegal crossings are negatively impacting Canadian-American relations, by causing complications in border security in places without the same problems.  In Canada-US crossings, more border security is like the proverbial, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", and Canadian border crossings are not a problem needing fixing.

Illegal border crossings will only be fixed when Mexico and Latin America improves it's own economic houses and protects its citizens against corrupt governments.

Senator Lindsey Graham - Republican Senator of South Carolina:Republicans know they must be more aligned with immigrant groups but, incredulously, they just don't seem to know how to do it!  Graham is one of the Republican co-sponsors of an immigration reform bill that would provide a pathway to citizenship for the nation’s 11.1 million undocumented immigrants. He told fellow Republicans that the GOP will fail to exist if reform does not become law.  “If we don’t pass immigration reform , if we don’t get it off the table in a reasonable, practical way, it doesn’t matter who you run in 2016,” Graham warned during on appearance Sunday on NBC’s Meet The Press. “We’re in a demographic death spiral as a party, and the only way we can get back in good graces with the Hispanic community, in my view, is pass comprehensive immigration reform. If you don’t do that, it really doesn’t matter who will run, in my view.”

Meanwhile, families are suffering needlessly as a result of Republican obstructionism on immigration reform. On Father’s Day, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) reminded Americans that the immigration bill making its way through Congress is paramount to millions of mixed-status families.

“I want to say it’s Father’s Day. A study just came out this week in Illinois, 56,000 children were left without a mom or a dad, some without parents in the last six years,” Gutierrez said on Sunday’s This Week. “It’s something we have to end. It’s a tragedy, what’s happening to American immigrant families. ”

If the current rate continues at roughly 1,100 undocumented immigrants deported daily, experts say 152,000 children will have a parent detained or deported. Other studies show a parent’s immigration status can impact children’s mental health, physical health, and school grades, making another case for a path to citizenship for fathers and mothers.

Hispanics won't support Rubio for GOP leadership just because he's Cuban American. Rather than just talking about reform, he must walk the walk. Yet, Rubio can't even provide leadership for his own immigration bill, even though his family are Cuban immigrants. Clearly, Rubio is shooting himself in his political foot.  If he wants to be a leader of Hispanic voters, he must shed immigration ambiguity and stand firm in support for a path to leadership for all immigrants, without regard for increasing border security.

Although Republicans are apparently proud of their strong political ties to the National Rifle Association, I don't believe this attraction is intended to cause morbidity.  

Nevertheless, Republicans who can't figure out how to save their party from the self inflicted wounds, caused by their refusal to agree on sensible immigration reform, are shooting themselves in their political feet.  By turning off Hispanic voters, they may never walk into the White House again.