Illegal Immigration

Illegal Immigration Watch: Immigration Off the Table?

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WSJ: Immigration and the GOP

Immigration reform stayed alive in the Senate yesterday, albeit not without continuing rancor among Republicans. Restrictionists seem to believe the issue will harm the GOP if it succeeds, but we think the political reality is closer to the opposite: The greater danger for Republicans is if it fails.

We’ve written often about the merits of immigration reform, and we have our own problems with parts of the Senate bill. But it’s worth spending some time on the larger politics of the issue, especially for Republicans. They’re caught between a passionate minority of their party–who oppose any reform that allows illegals a path to citizenship–and the larger electorate, which is more moderate and wants to solve the problem. Like Democrats on national security, this is a classic case in which pandering to the base will harm the GOP overall.

But, the Wall Street Journal obfuscates the REAL ISSUE: Business wants cheap labor and an unending supply of it.

And the piece is full of racial assumptions that racial block voting will continue ad nauseum and ad infinitum.

For more blowback on the WSJ’s silly contentions is this piece in The Corner: Off the Table?

The Senate has taken immigration off the table, only in the sense that they’ve lifted up the plate and thrown its contents into the public’s face. I say that’s going to aggravate a bitter and soon-to-be long-standing national battle over immigration. The Wall Street Journal thinks otherwise. Maybe there are some business folks out there for whom this bill will solve their near-term workforce problems. For them, that suffices to take the issue off the table. But from the perspective of the politics of the nation as a whole, we have only just begun.

Stay tuned as the Senate debates and defeats GOP amendments to the Senate Immigration bill.

Previous:

Illegal Immigration Watch: What Awaits Senators When They Return Home

Illegal Immigration Watch: Immigration Bill Advances in the Senate

Illegal Immigration Watch: Senate Watch- The Seven Who Could Stop the Senate Immigration Bill

Illegal Immigration Watch: GOP Offers Senate Immigration Bill Change – Go Home First

Illegal Immigration Watch: Senate to Return to Immigration Bill

Illegal Immigration Watch: Reid and McConnell Revive Senate Immigration Bill

Illegal Immigration Watch: New Life for Senate Immigration Bill?

Michael Ramirez on Paris Hilton AND Illegal Immigration

Michael Ramirez on President Bush and Illegal Immigration


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