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Editorial: Political self-interest may finally drive immigration reform

Sat., June 6, 2015

Key political leaders have yet to confront the immigration issue, despite the obvious need. A bill calling for comprehensive reform has passed the U.S. Senate, but it languishes in the House. A recent court ruling blocks executive action by President Barack Obama.

But maybe self-interest and political survival can compel politicians to act.

According to a recent Pew Research Center poll, an overwhelming 72 percent of Americans support either full citizenship or permanent residency for immigrants living and working in the country illegally. Even a majority of Republicans say these immigrants should be permitted to stay as long as they meet certain requirements.

The Senate bill has a long list of requirements for those seeking legal provisional status, including paying penalties and back taxes. The journey from temporary to permanent legal status would take up to 12 years provided no laws were broken. There would be no moving to the front of the line, but legal status would place millions of workers on the tax rolls.

Demagogues in Congress still characterize this as “amnesty,” but they haven’t come up with solutions of their own. Rounding up an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants first and shipping them across the border is impossible, and they know it.

Securing the border to their liking is also impossible. The Senate bill spends an astonishing $46 billion on upgraded security, including a doubling of border agents at the border and 700 miles of fencing. Not good enough, say House Republicans.

Latino voters, the nation’s fastest growing demographic, left the Republican Party in droves in the 2012 election. Presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s “self-deportation” line was so cringe-inducing, pundits expected the GOP to take the lesson, and soften its immigration stance. As Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., once said, “It’s very hard to make the economic argument to people who think you want to deport their grandmother.”

Rather than heed his own advice, Rubio has joined all of the 2016 GOP presidential candidates in taking a hard line (Jeb Bush will be the exception once he announces his candidacy). They believe this stance is necessary to survive the primary.

But the party should start heeding the polls, because only 34 percent of Republicans or Republican-leaning independents believe the party represents their views on immigration, according to the Pew survey. The last Republican to reside in the White House, President George W. Bush, got far more Latino votes than the Republican nominees of 2008 and 2012. Plus, he pushed for comprehensive immigration reform that granted legal status.

Farmers, manufacturers and business leaders are clamoring for a pragmatic approach to immigration, because the current system is hurting the economy.

The political stalemate achieves nothing, but it could keep Republicans outside the White House.