America’s Voice Education Fund released a report today breaking the GOP code on immigration. The PR-friendly phrase “attrition through enforcement” popularly used by the House Immigration Subcommittee is actually a euphemism for mass deportation. In fact, America’s Voice’s new report documents that the GOP strategy is aimed at forcing 11 million undocumented immigrants out of the country, despite the cost to American taxpayers, the U.S. agriculture industry, and our country’s reputation.
Not so much of the red-white-and-blue folk they claim to be, eh?
On a press call today, Mark Potok, Director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center; Fernand Amandi, Managing Partner of Bendixen & Amandi International; and Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice addressed the House Republican strategy of deporting 11 million immigrants – and the enormous risks that stem from it. Not only is this strategy certain to damage the GOP’s political prospects, it will destroy the U.S. economy and the state of race relations, especially in communities that are bitterly divided by immigration debates.
Speaking to the last point, Mark Potok was vocal in blaming the anti-immigrant movement in using Congress to advance their radical agenda:
This movement, organized by the controversial John Tanton and spearheaded by groups such as FAIR, Center for Immigration Studies and Numbers USA, are today’s Know Nothings. They want local, state and federal measures that expel immigrants here and stop immigrants from coming in the future. Their radicalism causes huge upheaval in local communities that take their recommendations to heart, and are exacerbating racial tensions across the country.”
Unfortunately for the GOP, Latinos are not so easily fooled. In the latest impreMedia and Latino Decisions polling, 47% of Latino voters rank immigration as their top issue, and only 9% said they will vote for Obama’s Republican challenger in 2012 (8% said ‘maybe’).
That should elicit an "Ouch" from Republicans, considering Latinos are the fastest growing voting demographic.
Pilar Marrero compounds in La Opinion:
This is one of the lowest levels of support obtained by the Republicans in recent years, and far less than the 40% a GOP caandidate would need to make a difference in key states to become president.”
Those paying closest attention to two of the House GOP's recent hearings on Immigration are consumers of Spanish language media. We found that 61% of the stories covering the most recent hearing, led by the anti-immigrant trifecta of Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-CA), Lamar Smith (R-TX) and Steve King (R-IA), ran in Spanish media.
And, our analysis found that nearly 3 million Latinos have read or listened to stories about these two hearings in Spanish. This, combined with the extensive coverage of the DREAM Act debate in 2010 and the live broadcast of the Senate vote on both major Spanish language TV networks, should worry many, if not all, GOP politicians (especially those looking to 2012 when Latino voters could determine who occupies the White House and a growing number of Senate and House seats.)
Fernando Amandi laid out the numbers:
By the middle of this century Latinos will represent 25% of the population. As long as the Republican Party’s rhetoric and policies continue to be as extreme and harsh as they have been, you’ll see more and more Latinos leave the GOP not just in 2012, but for a lifetime.
Yep, they're doing a lifetime of political damage. As Frank Sharry noted on the call:
The Republican Party is being watched with great interest by the Latino community. Simply put, if the GOP wants to make a real effort at courting Latino voters in 2012, it must stop pushing policies designed to remove their family members, neighbors, coworkers, and friends from the country. But with few adults in the party willing to stand up to the hard liners in the House of Representative, they will brand the party as the party of mass deportation until they do.
Is there any hope for the GOP? Not much as long as Gallegly, Smith, and King are at the helm. They think they're sneakily disguising their plans to split apart families and deport millions of people. But, they're being exposed every day in Spanish-speaking media. And, our new report is the first of many times we'll shine a light on the GOP's mass deportation strategy.
Republicans obviously do not care what immigrants think and there going to try to fix it were the Hispanic vote cannot hurt them like here in Texas. Republicans changed all the districts around were only Republicans can win and look at us now democrats are almost extinct in this state. Besides doing this which they have the power to do again now for the next ten years they are passing strict voter ID laws and anti-immigrant legislation. There is nothing that can be done to stop them. This is happening in Wisconsin , Oklahoma etc. I think this is there idea make it were the Hispanic vote will not hurt them. There has to be a reason why the Federal Government is not stepping in ??? I think all these politicians are going to stab immigrants in the back as they deport them.
