Last Sunday, former Florida Gov.—and prospective 2016 presidential candidate—Jeb Bush made news when describing what his campaign platform might look like. Questions arose about how he might approach the problems regarding immigration into the United States, and Bush gave a particularly revealing answer: “Yes, they broke the law, but it’s not a felony. It’s kind of … an act of love.” Bush said those who enter the country illegally are trying to “keep their families intact.” Most Americans relate to this sentiment, but the GOP has not—until now.
Bush is third in a line of Republican presidential hopefuls making waves with Hispanic and Latino voters by hinting at a strong desire to reform the country’s broken immigration system and devise solutions for about 11.7 million immigrants residning in the country currently without legal status. In 2013, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) alienated himself from the party by working on a bipartisan-immigration-reform plan. More recently, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) started a buzz when he said, “I think … the GOP needs to be more welcoming of immigrants.”
This is a welcome sea of change in Republican immigration politics. In a 2012 presidential-primary debate, Mitt Romney was lampooned when he suggested a policy solution of “self-deportation.” That’s a long way from calling illegal immigration an “act of love.”
Of course compassionate conservatism comes from political motivations. President Barack Obama, in his first term, pushed for immigration reform, but acquiesced to GOP insistence that his administration first enforce existing laws. Naively, the president obliged his opponents, hoping for a “yes we can” styled bipartisan immigration package—but it never materialized on the Republican side. After Democrats were shellacked out of the House in 2010, and with forecasts suggesting Democrats will lose the Senate this November, it probably never will before he leaves office.
As a result, Obama deported more than two million immigrants, in the sixth year of presidency, with no immediate chance of reform in sight. By contrast, President George W. Bush deported two million during his entire eight years in office. This illustrates some astute political maneuvering by the GOP. The Republicans can wait until 2016, when their candidate can point to a two-and-a-half-year history of party leaders calling for reform. It won’t convert every Latino or Hispanic voter from the Democrat side, but it deprives Obama a part of his base and reduces the power of immigration as a wedge issue in 2016.
Democrats should capitalize on this bait-and-switch now, not later. The U.S. has a long history built on immigration, and a culture that extolls the virtues of diversity and hard work. The fact that the current system is broken is shameful, a fact long recognized by Democrats and liberals. Now, the GOP is making moves to create some space in the debate with an eye toward 2016. After all, none of the Republicans up for election in November are talking like Jeb Bush—Rubio and Paul don’t have to run for any office until 2016. Democrats should put incumbent -congressional Republicans on the spot, and clamor for an immigration reform plan before November.
Unfortunately, that’s unlikely. Despite the fact that Obama has become the most heavy-handed president ever about deportation, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) is playing politics so those in his party up for election in November can play it safe.
Boehner said as much to Fox News’ Megyn Kelly on Monday night: “I’ve tried to get the House to move on this now for the last 15 or 16 months … our members look up and go … You can’t have immigration reform without strong border security and internal enforcement.How can we trust the president to actually obey the law and enforce the law that we would write?”
The Administration is obviously enforcing the current law. What the Speaker said is political malpractice. Strict enforcement was a trade-off to coax the GOP into backing immigration reform. Now it seems like the wiser members of the party are moving in that direction. Perhaps someone should tell Mr. Boehner to stop reading his fundraising numbers and start reading the papers.
