Recently, Senator John McCain stated the Senate would support immigration piecemeal — but what makes him think it will work when it did not work over 6 years ago under a Republican President when President George W. Bush introduced the Secure Fence Act of 2006? The Bush administration met 100% of the operational goals that were intended under the act and it was supposed to be a piecemeal step toward immigration reform years ago. When President Bush signed the Act, he said:
“This bill will help protect the American people. This bill will make our borders more secure. It is an important step toward immigration reform.”
Just this past Wednesday, Bush underscored the need for our federal government to fix the broken immigration system. He said:
“I hope during the debate that we keep a benevolent spirit in mind, and we understand the positive contributions immigrants make to our country. … But we have a problem, the laws governing the immigration system aren’t working. The system is broken.”
More importantly, we tried the piecemeal avenue during the DREAM Act vote in December 2010 when the House nor the Senate would approve a compassionate watered-down DREAM Act bill offered to babies, kids and students. Latinos warned politicians in 2010 of the consequences of them not supporting the DREAM Act, and indeed the consequences did haunt the GOP in 2012.
Reps. (D-CA) Nancy Pelosi and (D-TX) Joaquin Castro.
Mexican-Americans will be hawkish on the immigration political steps Rep. Nancy Pelosi will be making at the House level. Interestingly enough, Pelosi comes from the State of California where the state no longer has a white majority. We feel comfortable with Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas (another state with high Latin population) and it is good to know he understands the pulse of the Mexican-American community better than any other politician at the Hill.
Perhaps Latinos should allow the House Republicans to put their fingerprints all over their own obstructionist tactics with regard to legal immigration reform?
Perhaps the Republican Party will need to learn more political lessons come 2014 and the 2016 Presidential election cycle?
Heaven knows approximately 500,000 new coming of age Latin voters occur every year but this does not seem to grab the attention of the stiff-necked GOP.
This is a good time for Pelosi to talk about the Cuban Adjustment Act as it relates to every single minority (Asian, Cuban-Americans, etc.) held position at the House level. For instaqnce, Cuban immigrants receive government handouts and benefits once their wet-foot touches dry-land. Mexican immigrants are not asking for handouts, and immigration reform begs the question: “How would Cuban immigrants feel about piecemealing the Cuban Adjustment Act?”
This would also be a good time for Bill Clinton to blast the Tea Party Republicans on their restrictionism and protectionist views that do not support business growth model. One burning question we have for Canadian-born, son of Cuban immigrant Sen. Ted Cruz is: Does he support the wet-foot-dry-foot policy, and if he does, what makes a Cuban immigrant different than other immigrants?
We know that Numbers USA has essentially become an arm of the Tea party, and most freshman representatives have not figured out their anti-immigrant strategy. Indeed Numbers USA has 600,000 due paying members and many of them target new and weak GOP representatives with a good scare. It will work in the short term for a little bit, too, but it will be at the expense of the Republican Party’s entire future reminiscent of what occurred to the Dixiecrats of yore.
More from POLITICO:
A piecemeal approach by the House could be acceptable and wouldn’t be dead on arrival for further cooperation from the Senate, McCain said after an Oval Office session with the president and Vice President Joe Biden that lasted about an hour. “We can work with them on different pieces of legislation. We want legislation that we can go to conference on,” he said.
Nor would Obama and the Senate supporters of comprehensive immigration reform try to “big-foot” the lower chamber, McCain added. “We respect the role of the Speaker and Congresswoman Pelosi, and the leadership challenges that they face. We are not trying to punt you or [put] inappropriate pressure on you.” Schumer said he agrees.