So yesterday Speaker Boner… oh I’m sorry, Boehner, you know, the orange weeping fellow, announced that Immigration Reform was all but dead in this current Congress. Brian Beutler at TPM reports that “John Boehner stated a specific policy preference Tuesday that will alienate the entire Democratic Party if he adheres to it, and thus doom the reform effort.” Here is the wonderous weeping Speaker:
“It’s clear from everything that I’ve seen and read over the last couple of weeks that the American people expect that we’ll have strong border security in place before we begin the process of legalizing and fixing our legal immigration system,” Boehner said outside the Capitol Monday afternoon.
First, I always love how Boehner uses the American People as his shield, and then lies about what the American People want. His usage of that phrase implies that all Americans, which includes, as mush as he hates it, Latinos. Yes, Latinos are Americans too. What he is talking about is what he and his conservative members and the base of his party wants. Yes, they are Americans too, but Boehner best be more specific in describing who wants what, lest he be called a liar. Brian Beutler says that this statement is an endorsement of the conservative view that any steps to legalize existing immigrants should be contingent upon implementation of draconian border policies.
But the bill already contains draconian border policies. Matt Yglesias:
The more nonsensical argument I’ve been hearing takes the Congressional Budget Office’s conclusion that the Gang of 8 bill would cut unauthorized migration in half and appends the word “only” to it. Get it? Immigration reformers say their reform bill will secure the border, but in fact it will only cut unauthorized migration in half relative to the current policy baseline. But of course not passing the immigration bill just leaves us with the current policy, which (by definition!) doesn’t cut unauthorized migration at all relative to the current policy baseline. So disappointment about the border security potency of the bill can’t actually be the reason for not passing it. The reason for not passing it would have to be what it plainly is—hostility to creating a path to citizenship for current unauthorized residents of the country that’s so intense that it outweighs other possible benefits of the bill.
One thing the Republicans must get through their heads is that the border will never be 100% secure, with secure meaning no unauthorized border crossing at all anywhere at any time. It does not matter if you put the entire US population on the border, shoulder to shoulder. Someone will get through. It does not matter how many moats or fences or walls you build, or how high or deep you build them, someone will get through.
So Matt Yglesias is right. The demand for more and more border security is but an excuse for their opposition, and actual hostility towards, a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. They will never want to give them citizenship, no matter how much it is in their political interest to do so.
Paul Waldman shows how GOP opposition to Clinton’s and Obama’s healthcare bills differs from GOP opposition to immigration reform:
Those two efforts at health care reform were always understood as a conflict between a Democratic administration seeking a longtime Democratic goal, and Republicans in Congress trying to stop them. It was reported like a sporting event: Clinton loses, Republicans win; Obama wins, Republicans lose. Immigration, on the other hand, has been reported largely as a battle within the Republican party. President Obama, knowing full well that anything he advocates immediately becomes toxic for most Republicans, has been using a lighter touch when it comes to public advocacy for comprehensive reform. I’m not saying he hasn’t been pushing for it, but he hasn’t done the all-out, campaign-style barnstorming tour that would help turn it into a purely Democrats-versus-Republicans issue. The story has always been, “What will the Republicans do?” and if reform goes down, the headlines won’t read, “Obama Defeated on Immigration Reform,” they’ll read, “Republicans Kill Immigration Reform,” with subheadings like “Danger ahead for GOP as Latino voters react.
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