Two senators confirmed Sunday that bipartisan immigration reform talks, which last took place two years ago, will resume.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on NBC’s Meet the Press he and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) are talking to colleagues about moving forward on a blueprint forged last time they negotiated immigration.
“I think we have a darn good chance using this blueprint to get something done this year,” Schumer said. “The Republican Party has learned that being anti-illegal and anti-immigrant doesn’t work for them politically and they know it.”
“The one thing we do not need to do is abandon conservatism,” Graham said on CBS’ Face the Nation. “And in the exit polls of the election, 51 percent of Americans said the government does too much, not too little. Conservatism would sell with Hispanics. They’re hardworking, entrepreneurial, pro-life, pro-military. But the truth of the matter is the immigration debate that we engaged in in 2006 and 2007 has built a wall between the Republican Party and Hispanic community because of tone and rhetoric.”
President Bush received 44 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2004. In 2008, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) got 31 percent. This year, Mitt Romney received just 27 percent.
“This is an odd formula for a party to adopt, the fastest growing demographic in the country, and we’re losing votes every election cycle. It has to stop. It’s one thing to shoot yourself in the foot. Just don’t reload the gun. So I intend not to reload this gun when it comes to Hispanics,” Graham said. “I intend to tear this wall down and pass an immigration reform bill that’s an American solution to an American problem, but we have nobody to blame but ourselves when it comes to losing Hispanics, and we can get them back with some effort on our part.”
Schumer said their blueprint has “real potential for bipartisan support based on the theory that most Americans are for legal immigration but very much against illegal immigration.”
“Our plan just to be quick does four things. First of all, close the border, make sure that’s shut. Second, make sure that there is a non-forgeable document so that employers can tell who was legal and who was illegal and once they hire someone illegally, throw the book at them,” he said. “Third, on legal immigration — that will stop illegal immigration in its tracks. Third, on legal immigration, let in the people we need, whether they be engineers from our universities, foreign or people to pick the crops. And fourth, a path to citizenship that’s fair, which says you have to learn English, you have to go to the back of the line, you’ve got to have a job, and you can’t commit crimes.”
Schumer said he’d like to see Romney speak up for the resumption of negotiations. “I think you could see him struggling in the general election,” the senator said. “The hard right had moved him so far over on issues like immigration. And I didn’t think his heart was in it.”
I presume Mr. Schumer and Mr. Graham think we of the “hard right” are evil–of the Devil, perhaps. In that case…
Roper: So now you’d give the Devil benefit of law!
More: Yes. What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?
Roper: I’d cut down every law in England to do that!
More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned round on you — where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country’s planted thick with laws from coast to coast — man’s laws, not God’s — and if you cut them down — and you’re just the man to do it — d’you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake.
Mr. Schumer and Mr. Graham propose to cut a great road so that “social justice” can be done. I predict winds could in fact blow, for people who demand you accomodate them once when they are in the clear wrong might not have a problem continuing to do so if their desires are granted.
The GOP just wishes for votes that are no lager possible to get–the brand might have been too effectively demonized to be recoverable.
It should be obvious that the Republican Party is an ill-designed vessel for securing Liberty. We who desire it might have to secure it ourselves, if it is to be secured at all.
Lager=longer. Apologies.
“The GOP just wishes for votes that are no longer possible to get-”
I agree with you but going farther, they were never possible for the GOP to reach in the first place. Think about it, most illegal immigrants from the south of us come here for one thing and one thing only- money.Whether its through work or freebies doesn’t matter, its about making some money or getting some other benefit. They aren’t concerned with debt/deficits, social issues, or any other dividing line between rebublicans and democrats. They will Always vote for the party which grants them a chance to take jobs or free stuff at the expense of the citizens.
I say republicans should stand firm and stand tall regarding the necessity and legality of limiting immigration. THAT will get the working mans vote.