Now that President Obama has announced his Executive Order giving some 5 million illegal immigrants what amounts to a blanket amnesty, it’s worth examining the motives, but also the possible, and perhaps surprising, results.
His order was politics, pure and simple. With nothing further to lose — he’s a lame duck and unpopular president facing a Republican-controlled Congress — Obama hopes that issuing this executive order, which he knows the Republicans will oppose, will damage the Republican brand in the eyes of most Hispanics, and ensure that Hispanics become faithful Democratic voters for decades to come.
Republicans will, and should, oppose this (once again) blatant usurpation of the Constitution’s legislative process. Regarding an issue of such social, cultural and political importance as the sudden legality of some 5 million illegal immigrants, it is the job of Congress — the one branch of government representative of, and beholden to, the American people — to pass legislation dealing with the immigration problem. It is not the job of a single man wielding his presidential pen.
That said, if handled wisely, Republicans can win this debate, and the first thing to remember is that Hispanic-American citizens of the United States and illegal immigrants, mostly Hispanic, are two different groups. There are nearly 50 million legal Hispanic-American citizens, compared to 11 million illegals, and according to recent polls the two groups have different priorities. Regarding issues important to Hispanic-American citizens, polls show they rate the illegal immigration problem a distant fourth behind education, jobs and the economy, and affordable health care. Obviously, they understand that to achieve the American Dream one must be gainfully employed, and Republicans can make the case that after six years of Democratic control, the economy remains weak and jobs remain scarce.
As for education, their highest priority, Hispanic-Americans are completely simpatico with Republicans. In fact, on the issue of school choice, a recent poll showed Hispanic-Americans support charter schools at higher rates than blacks and whites — 68 percent, to 59 percent for blacks and 61 percent for whites — and their support for school vouchers is 72 percent. Hispanic-Americans understand that their children’s test scores in math, science, reading and writing lag far behind other groups, and they have correctly concluded that a chief problem is the public school system.
Wooing Hispanics won’t be easy because most of them are Democrats, but on the issues they care about — and polls also show them disillusioned with Obamacare — Republicans have a good argument, provided they start thinking of Hispanic citizens not as “minorities” — that’s singing from the Democratic song sheet — but as fellow Americans. The Irish, Italian, Polish and Jewish immigrants who came to America before them eventually achieved mainstream status. It’s high time Hispanics did as well.
