PURE GOLD: Immigration

President Obama, asserting, "we are a nation of law and immigrants," insists we will get a "comprehensive” immigration reform bill passed this year. It is a wish fair-minded people can support but his optimism about such passage in the near term, to coin a phrase, is like whistling in Dixie.

 

In the current political climate, with unemployment still around 10 percent, there is no way Republicans in the U.S. Senate can abandon their current hard line on immigration, a position they solidified during the Bush-2 regime.

 

Ironically, G. W. Bush and Obama see immigration in the same light: stronger border efforts to keep illegal immigrants out and a clear but difficult path Hispanic illegals can follow to gain legal status and possibly citizenship. Thus in regard to the border issue, Obama ordered 1200 additional soldiers to patrol the border.

 

During the Bush years, John McCain shared W’s views but that McCain is now a historical footnote. McCain is now worried about getting reelected to the Senate against a Tea Partier rightist who says maverick actually means liberal. McCain almost seems pathetic as he now talks only about building a bigger fence along the Mexican-Arizona border.

 

The immigration issue came to an emotional head in Arizona as a result of the new state law, SB1070, supported by Gov. Jan Brewer, who is running for a full term. Under the new law, police are required to question immigrant status if they have a "reasonable suspicion” that those apprehended might be illegal.

 

The Hispanic population has responded as if jabbed by a cattle prod. The problem is exacerbated by arrests for such minor issues as worn out auto tires and faulty headlights.

 

Many cities, organizations and individual entertainers now threaten to boycott Arizona, where it would really hurt financially. The NAACP and the ACLU denounced the new law in the sharpest terms and Hispanics have sponsored protest rallies in 70 locations   throughout the nation. An estimated 50,00 marched in Los Angeles, 25,000 in Dallas, and10,000 in Chicago and Milwaukee. Signs against the Arizona governor included one    calling her "Arizona’s wicked witch of the West."

 

In her defense she said the law was necessary because the Feds hadn’t sealed the border, adding that the new law actually codified existing police practices in the state.

 

Obama takes sharp exception. The new law, he suggests, threatens "to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans, as well as the trust between police and our communities that is crucial to keeping us safe."

 

But he has repeatedly noted that reform cannot occur without some Republican support in the Senate.

 

For a while it looked as if Sen. Lindsey Graham might fill the void left by the vanishing maverick. Graham had agreed to work with Democrats on energy legislation. But then came along Senate Leader Harry Reid, anxious to firm up Hispanic support in his reelection bid in Nevada, announcing that immigration would be moved up on the Senate calendar. He then lost Graham on the energy issue, a fairly clear indication that Graham would not support any early action on immigration.

 

In what amounted to a trial balloon on immigration legislation, the Administration spoke about a workers’ identification card that could not be faked. All workers would have to show the card to employers to prove they were not illegal. Republicans on the right found it another extension of government power, which they opposed and the ACLU on the left worried about the impact on civil liberties.

 

Emotional intensity has led to political excesses, to put it mildly. Some polls on the right have talked about finding a way to ship the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants back across our southern border. Some also suggest that the offspring of illegals who are born in the states be denied citizenship, a clear violation of the 14th Amendment. On the Hispanic side, the charge of "Nazi” and "fascist” have been used rather loosely, and, some particularly sensitized Hispanics have objected to educational requirements that all English teachers should be proficient in pronunciation and grammar.

 

The immigration dilemma has other aspects that should be noted. Part of the border problem results from drug smuggling into the states by the Mexican cartels, resulting from the large demand for drugs in the states. Then, of course, there is the fact that much of the weaponry obtained by the cartels is shipped from American producers.

 

In the long run, the Arizona law could seriously weaken the GOP’s efforts to win over Hispanic voters. Under W., more than 40 percent voted for him. That dropped to 33 percent in 2008.

 

In a number of states in 2008, the Hispanic vote became particularly important. In New Mexico Hispanics accounted for 41 percent of the vote, in California 18 percent, in Arizona 16 percent and in Nevada 15 percent.

 

While Hispanics only contributed 9 percent of the total vote in 2008, a growing number of Hispanics were under 18 years old, and many will become citizens and register before the next presidential race.

 

At the moment the immigration issue is frozen during this difficult period. Even the police chief in Phoenix laments "the level of rhetoric and the hatred [that] continues to escalate."