Does the Hispanic Boom Mean the GOP Needs a New Approach to Illegal Immigration?
The most recent census numbers have revealed a surprisingly high growth rate of the Hispanic population in the U.S. There are now 50.5 million Hispanic Americans, up from 35.3 million in 2000. That's a whopping 43 percent increase in one decade. And this trend of the Hispanic population growth rate out-stripping the "non-Hispanic White" population growth is projected to continue for the foreseeable future.
That's a big problem for the Republicans because Hispanics traditionally vote 66 percent Democratic. Even in the last Congressional election when the Republicans took the Democrats' lunches, ate them and threw the empty sandwich bags in their collective faces, the Democrats still got 60 percent of the Latino vote.
The presumed hot button issue of Hispanic voters is immigration or as we Republicans call it, illegal immigration. The Democrats have done a pretty good job of convincing Hispanic voters that Republicans who want to enforce our immigration laws are racist and anti-Hispanic. The Republicans need to counter this in four ways:
1. Let's admit some respect for the guts it takes to leave your family behind and come to a country where you don't speak the language and take whatever job or jobs you can find so that you can support them better than you could by staying where you were. Most illegal aliens are following their version of the American dream. Acknowledging that, even just in words, as opposed to treating all of them like criminals is a good starting point.
2. Combine a path to citizenship for current illegal aliens with a very secured border and an active deportation program for illegals who have committed crimes. Let's face facts. The illegals who are here, are not going anywhere. Let's bring them into the system (and the tax base.) Let's treat the people who want to play by the rules with respect. But at the same time lets shore up our sieve of a border and from then on enforce our immigration laws aggressively. Then it will be clear we are basing our actions on peoples' actions, not the color of their skin.
3. Set up a documented worker program with Mexico to take away the need to sneak into the country illegally. Again, if people who need jobs can come to the U.S. legally and take available jobs, enforcing the law against those who sneak in seems only fair.
4. Reframe the debate. Cracking down on illegal immigration is not racist. Allowing it to continue is what is racist. The United States has an annual legal immigration limit of 700,000 people from all the countries of the world. To turn a blind eye to the estimated 500,000 illegal aliens who flaunt that limit and enter the country each year and who are predominantly Hispanic is unfair to all the people from other countries and ethnicities who are waiting their turn to immigrate legally.
Republicans can do well with Hispanic voters if they make an effort. They are predominately socially conservative and in 2004 Bush received 44 percent of their votes when he ran on platform of strict enforcement of the borders combined with a path to citizenship. Republicans need to follow his lead. On at least one issue, he had it right.