The “Peculiar Politics of Immigration”-- 2011 Style (Chapter 13 Second Post)

Newman says that “immigration is one of the hot-button political issues of our time” and that it is an issue on which liberals and conservatives don’t line up neatly on either side (Newman, p. 419).

Here is a link to a recent discussion of where the current Republican candidates for President stand on this issue:

http://nbcpolitics.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/01/9142545-immigration-trips-up-gop-presidential-contenders

Their positions illustrate Newman’s point quite well.  Immigration is just not an easy issue for politicians.  Just as Newman describes, the current candidates don’t fit neatly into a single box on what to do about the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants currently residing in the United States. 

The traditional conservative position is in favor of locking down the borders and deporting everyone who is here illegally.  Interestingly, two of the current Republican candidates, Texas Governor Rick Perry and former Speaker Newt Gingrich, have both proposed immigration policies that are more humane to those who are already here.   In an early debate, Perry said his opponents did not “have a heart” if they didn’t support his position to provide in-state college tuition to children of illegal immigrants who had been here a long time and had grown up in U.S. schools. Gingrich said he supports finding a “humane” way to allow families who are here illegally but have laid down roots here for many years to stay here and not be deported.  Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, however, has taken the more hard-liner position on immigration, saying that he opposes Perry’s college tuition plan for children of illegal immigrants as well as Gingrich’s plan that he describes as “a new doorway to amnesty.”  Yet Romney is somewhat vague about what he would do with the 11 million illegal immigrants who are already here.  Interestingly, Perry and Gingrich are generally considered more conservative than Romney, but on this issue, their political leanings are reversed.



Republican Presidential Candidates Romney, Perry and Gingrich debate immigration policy.

NBC Politics (link above) reports that most conservatives still favor deporting everyone who is here illegally, but as Newman points out, many of these illegal immigrants are the parents of children born in the United States who are U.S. citizens as defined under our Constitution (Newman, p. 440).  Deporting them would cause serious problems for these families as well as result in deporting U.S. citizens. 

Another consideration is that immigrants who are here legally and who have become U.S. citizens can and do vote, and their vote is important to the election chances of any candidate for President. 

This issue is important and it makes for interesting political theater as the candidates try to tiptoe carefully through this political minefield.