Posted on 02/18/2021 6:01:42 AM PST by Kaslin
This is not going to be a popular opinion, but it is time for Republicans to stop demonizing illegal immigrants and begin recruiting them as voters.
resident Joe Biden is determined to give amnesty to the immigrants here illegally now, and whether by executive order (at last count, Biden has signed 55 executive orders, proclamations and memoranda, eight of which loosen immigration restrictions) or because Democrats control the House and Senate, there is every reason to think he will get what he wants.
This would not be the first time the government granted amnesty to those who entered the country illegally. Former President Ronald Reagan signed legislation in 1986 that granted amnesty to nearly 3 million immigrants who were in this country unlawfully. (The law is often viewed as one of Reagan's policy failures, as the amnesty was supposed to be conditioned upon tighter border security, which never materialized.)
Until fairly recently, the number of people here illegally was often "guesstimated" to be around 11 million. In 2019, the left-leaning Brookings Institution published its figures, citing a range of 10.5 million to 12 million. But a study published by Yale University researchers in 2018 suggested that the information traditionally relied upon to get these numbers was inaccurate, and thus, the "accepted" number of illegal immigrants has been wildly underestimated. The study posited that somewhere between 16.7 and 22.1 million immigrants are living in the United States illegally.
The issue of continuing to allow people to march across the border (or overstay their visas) is serious and must be addressed. But it is time for conservatives to stop pretending that anyone anywhere anytime from any party is going to deport 10 million to 20 million people -- or more -- who are already here. That is never going to happen.
Most of those arriving in the United States simply want a chance at a better life, a life where work can produce real opportunities for success for themselves and their families, freed from policies that entrench poverty and enrich corruptocrats in the oppressive government regimes they left behind. Frankly, if it were easier for otherwise-law-abiding immigrants to obtain legal residency -- and, eventually, citizenship -- it would likely be easier to deport the real criminals: drunk drivers, drug dealers, rapists, gang members and the like.
Undocumented immigrants are not voting now (or at least should not be voting), but they will be voting as soon as some kind of amnesty for them goes into effect. Is anyone in the Republican Party considering what will happen then?
The most vocal conservative opponents of immigration -- Ann Coulter, for example -- assume that immigrants will vote Democrat. Most Republicans seem to be operating on the same assumptions.
But that is not inevitable. To the contrary, many of these immigrants are primed for the kinds of messages conservatives carry -- if only conservatives will reach out to them. Republicans cannot just cede the immigrant vote to Democrats the way they have ceded the Black vote, the union vote, the youth vote, the culture, the education system and just about every other political and cultural battleground to Democrats over the past 50 years.
While Republicans rail on about stopping illegal immigration -- which, by the way, they have never managed to accomplish -- Democrats are already doing outreach within those communities, securing their trust and their loyalty. When amnesty becomes law, the ballots of these new Americans will be filled in, mailed in or harvested, make no mistake -- and they'll be for Democrats.
Unless these populations are privy to a different message.
The legitimate concern for protecting the integrity of our borders should not stop Republicans from cultivating as voters those immigrants who are already here. And it isn't a hard sell. These people have left countries with high poverty, high crime, high levels of government corruption and almost no chance of escape. Republicans can point to what has worked over our country's history as well as what has failed, saying: "This is what San Francisco, Chicago and New York look like under Democratic rule. Criminals run amok. Gangs rule the streets. Small businesses are overtaxed and even destroyed. And those who legitimately need assistance are living on the streets. This is what many of you left behind. For God's sake, don't vote for the people whose policies are creating those problems here."
The notion that immigrants are impervious to a conservative message is a trope. For whatever else can be said about the 2020 elections (and the last chapter of that story has not yet been written), former President Donald Trump proved that the "America First," pro-freedom message appeals to hardworking people, to people with immigrant backgrounds and to people who don't have much but want to live in a country where it is still possible to work hard and acquire more. Trump was able to obtain higher numbers of the Hispanic vote and the Black vote than any Republican presidential candidate in recent memory. Imagine what would be possible if every Republican running for elected office were to carry the same message to immigrants.
It's a simple choice: Conservatives can either go after the millions of people who already live here or let them fall for Democrats' empty promises that their lives will be better off with Democratic policies. Ten or 20 or 30 million more people voting for those policies will only ensure that all of us get to find out just how empty those promises really are.
No to anyone that entered or are in the country illegally. They must be removed from workplaces and deported.
This is the same bill of goods Swamp King Bush II sold us. No thanks.
I think this is good strategy, but it’s going to be difficult to do very well without giving up some core ideological principles. The temptation would be to start making leftist welfare style promises like free healthcare, or giving quick paths to citizenship for illegals without fixing the border. The focus should be on social conservatism and a fair system of elevating the opportunity for all communities, not just target groups.
Should be courting Hispanics. Everyone knows they are not going to be sent back but build a wall to keep new ones out. Even the hispanics living here do not want more hispanics. They are hard workers,love starting business and mostly Christian.
Blacks are a lost cause. Why Trump spent all that time kissing their arses is beyond me to get 15% of the black male vote.
Same with Asians we should be courting them.
Yeah. Already tried. Don’t work. Just look where we’re at.
If the illegals start voting Republican, the Democrats will deport them.
>>stop demonizing illegal immigrants and begin recruiting them as voters.<<
That is so wrong. Demonizing illegal immigrants?
Crossing an international border without permission is against the law. This is what makes them “ILLEGAL”. They are not immigrants either, they are illegal aliens subject to deportation back to their home countries.
Recruiting them as voters? Illegals? So now anyone can vote in our elections?
Good grief!
“They must be removed from workplaces and deported.”
Will never happen. Co’s want the cheap labor.If you think 20 million people are going to be rounded up and sent back is a pipe dream.
This is so F’up.
We are supposed to embrace the invasion and the destruction of our culture and nation. Ignore we are being replaced. Embrace race after 50+ years of being browbeat about how race doesn’t matter and all that ‘content of character’ BS.
What are we talking about? ILL*UCKINLEGAL ALIENS OR Legal Immigrants? There is a HUGE difference. Republicans already “court” LEGAL IMMIGRANTS. It’s the freeloader pinata whackers that they don’t like. You know, the ones you don’t have to “assume” are going to vote for the commie RATS because that’s what they do.
Here comes the Nikki Haley Moment.
Micro Rubio, Grahamnesty and the rest of the Bush League Republicans have been trying to sell this BS for years as they plotted to knowingly import a permanent Democrat majority.
GOP - RIP
It is illegal for an illegal alien to vote.
Just keep voting for the R
No matter how Bad they are
Rah Rah Romney
Hail Hail Haley
Yes, and Jack Kemp with his phony Empower America PAC before him.
Bill Bennett and Vin Weber, under what rock are they now?
WE DO COURT Immigrants! ... Legal ones! And they understand better than anyone!
Here’s an idea: maybe they could try to “court” conservative voters.
Illegal aliens are NOT immigrants.
Immigrants are people who apply for, pay for, wait for and comply with the documents that make them immigrants.
People who break in are ILLEGAL ALIENS.
I would like to know who in the gop does the math.
They have just tossed out the majority of their voters.
They are not coming back.
How many immigrants will it take to replace them?
Does not add up.
Truly the party of stupid
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