New York - January 14, 2012 - Immigration is a disruptive issue for the Republicans in this campaign. As we enter election year Republicans act as if they care about immigrants living in America yet, they use every ploy to confuse and befuddle Americans by dangling immigrants as a red herring that is the root of all of our problems. They do not seem to care much about the suffering of the immigrant community. Sure they talk about legal immigration yet they know that illegal immigrants do not live in a vacuum, most have families living in the United States and more than you could imagine, are U.S. citizens. Deporting one illegal alien that has been living in the United States for decades, would affect immediate family members that are citizens. Republicans know that the current laws are so unworkable that they split families instead of reunifying them, as the Immigration and Nationality Act calls for.
Now as the Iowa and the New Hampshire votes move into the past, the spotlight shifts in the direction of South Carolina, Florida and Nevada. Their biggest worry is how to find a way to get the Hispanics to forget about what they have done to their lives since 9/11 and convice them that they will help them and not the democrats. The face the problem that here are significant Latinos living in these states. Soon we will see the chameleon characteristics of these Republican presidential wannabe’s as their tone shifts in an effort to garner Latino votes in these important swing states. Soon the campaign travels to two states with significant large Hispanic populations. In Nevada, more than a quarter of the state is Latino: and Florida 22.5 percent of the state is Latino.
Let’s take a closer look at the candidates views on immigration.
MITT ROMNEY
If he could, Mitt Romney would build a fence along the American southern border with Mexico and severely crack down on employers who hire undocumented workers.
Romney recently announced the support of Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. He said “I’m so proud to earn Kris’s support. Kris has been a true leader on securing our borders and stopping the flow of illegal immigration into this country. We need more conservative leaders like Kris willing to stand up for the rule of law. With Kris on the team, I look forward to working with him to take forceful steps to curtail illegal immigration and to support states like South Carolina and Arizona that are stepping forward to address this problem.”
And Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach said that “Illegal immigration is a nightmare for America’s economy and America’s national security. Mitt Romney is the candidate who will finally secure the borders and put a stop to the magnets, like in-state tuition, that encourage illegal aliens to remain in our country unlawfully. He is also the candidate who will stand shoulder to shoulder with the states that are fighting to restore the rule of law. I am pleased to stand with this true conservative.”
But who is Kris Kobach?
Kris Kobach, the Secretary of State of Kansas, authored Arizona’s anti immigrant law, SB 1070. Kobach is an attorney for Immigration Reform Law Institute, the legal arm of the chameleon organization named Federation for American Immigration Reform, or FAIR. As Rachel Maddow revealed in her program, the founder of FAIR is a well-known racist. The seed money he used to start FAIR came from an infamous Eugenics (the same thing the Nazi’s did) outfit.
FAIR is just one piece of a vast and powerful anti-immigrant organization, created over the last 30 years, and orchestrated by John Tanton. His organization has been able to insinuate itself into many of the social and political debates of our time.
Tanton developed many different entities so that it appears that there are numerous advocates for what he sees and the ideal society. Another of his group, the Center for Immigration Studies, acts as so called "think tank" to the anti-immigrant movement. Some other entities he is invalid with is the Coalition for the Future American Worker , Progressives for Immigration Reform, NumbersUSA, Immigration Reform Law Institute, United to Secure America Coalition. These are just a few of his many groups that work in unison trying earnestly to modify America's thinking on immigration.
The Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League have connected these groups with racists, white supremacists, and political extremists.
The Tanton message is blatantly clear - no more immigrants in the U.S. and those that are here should leave.
RON PAUL
He wants to enforce Border Security and believes that America should be guarding her own borders and enforcing her own laws instead of policing the world and implementing UN mandates.
Absolutely no Amnesty – He believes that the Obama Administration’s endorsement of “Comprehensive Immigration Reform,” will grant amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants and will only encourage more law-breaking.
He wants to end Birthright Citizenship by taking away the constitutional right of children born here to illegal parents to be U.S. citizen. He believes that as long as illegal immigrants know their children born here will be granted U.S. citizenship, we’ll never be able to control our immigration problem.
JON HUNTSMAN
He advocates for a border fence and opposes in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants, but he pressured the Senate for comprehensive immigration while he was governor.
Huntsman record is confused when it comes to immigration. While he argued for federal comprehensive immigration reform as governor, supported H-1b worker visas and signed into law in Utah a bill granting undocumented immigrants "driving-privilege cards,” he threatened to veto a measure repealing in-state college tuition for the children of undocumented immigrants.
NEWT GINGRICH
Immigration: He wants to Wants to move thousands of homeland security workers to border states and dispatch drones around the border.
He believes in three Principles
1. No “comprehensive” plan can work. Immigration reform can be outlined as a complete proposal but has to be passed in a series of steps, with each one understood and passed on its own merits.
2. Under no circumstance can a path to citizenship be created which would allow those who have broken the law to receive precedence over those who patiently waited to become residents and citizens via the legal process.
3. We must reconcile the goal of legality with the reality that there are millions of immigrants currently here outside the law, some with a long set of family and community ties, and some with no ties. A system has to be established that establishes legality but no citizenship for those with deep ties, repatriates those with no family or community ties in a dignified way, and quickly sends home those who have committed criminal and other destructive acts.
RICK SANTORUM
He supports building additional fences along U.S.-Mexican border and is firmly against guest worker programs.
Santorum views the invasion of foreign workers as damaging to the country, both on the economic and social front. He wants strict limitations on any participation in Social Security as well as fast tracking of citizenship applications.
He does not want immigrants to receive government and no in-state tuition for illegal immigrants
RICK PERRY
He opposes border fence and when he was governor of Texas, he granted undocumented immigrants college tuition. However he campaigning alongside controversial Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio, an anti- immigration proponent.
Recently, U.S. District Judge Murray, barred Arpaio's deputies from detaining people based solely on their suspicion that they’re in the country illegally.
In a 40-page ruling the facts emerged that during patrols, known as "sweeps," deputies would flood heavily Latino areas over a period of many days. Their purpose: to seek out traffic violators and arrest other offenders. Illegal immigrants accounted for 57 percent of the 1,500 people arrested in the 20 sweeps performed by his office since January 2008.
The Million Dollar Question
Does any reader believe that even one of these Republican presidential contenders could take away Latin votes from Obama? He currently leads Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney by 68 to 23 percent among Hispanic voters. This is even before these republicans put their foot in their mouths and before Obama begins his campaign.
