Republicans push for eleventh hour immigration legislation

If there was ever any doubt in your mind that desperate Republicans facing election defeat weren't going to go out fighting, this week's reemergence of "immigration issues" on the legislative calendar should put that thought to rest. Having spent a good part of the summer unsuccessfully trying to rile up the electorate into believing that immigration was the most important issue facing the nation, both House and Senate Republicans decided to once again force the issue to the front burner this week hoping to gain traction going into what is shaping up to be a dismal November for them.

Facing sagging poll numbers and an angry electorate, Republican prospects look bad. Having spend six years rubberstamping every proposal coming from the Whitehouse, the President's failures and unpopularity now hang around their necks like a an albatross. It would be impossible for most of them to distance themselves from a President they fear to even be seen with on the campaign trail. So what are they left to do?

The answer is simple … distract, distract, distract.



tags: immigration, George Bush , House Legislation , Border Wall, immigration legislation, voter ID


Their mission is simple. Shift the debate away from their records, the war in Iraq, corruption scandals, oil prices, a stagnating economy, record deficits, job loss, and a failed "war on terrorism." Their plan is to make this a single issue campaign. Make it all about immigration, the only issue they have had any success in misrepresenting to the American people.

They've spent an entire year preparing for just this contingency. Hammering away with talking points and skewed statistics they have tried to convince the average American that the borders are "broken", immigrants are stealing jobs, abusing social services and putting a huge burden on average American tax payers.

They've also continually obfuscated the line between terrorism and immigration in order to try to link a genuine fear and concern with an unfounded one.

In many ways they have been successful, but it has come with a price. Having convinced a segment of the population that immigration is a matter of life and death, they now want to see something done about it.

This week House and Senate Republicans are preparing to do just that … come up with a few mostly symbolic pieces of legislation to go home and campaign on. It doesn't really matter that like most legislation coming from this Congress, from the war in Iraq to tax cuts for the rich, they haven't really figured out how to pay for their proposals. The public has already proven that they rarely ask the tough questions like "how do you plan on paying for this?" when dealing with this Congress.

So far from the House we've gotten a 700 mile long wall, a bill requiring proof of citizenship for voting, a proposal to make digging tunnels under the 700 mile long wall illegal, indefinite detention of aliens suspected of being terrorists, a request for universal guidelines for handling alien smugglers, and a proposal to "reaffirm" local law enforcements authority to enforce Federal immigration laws.

The Senate thus far has agreed to debate the wall building bill.

As for the President … he's said he would sign the wall building legislation if it gets to his desk.

So what does this all amount to? … A big pile of nothing. The money for the wall will not be appropriated before the break to go home and campaign, and the rest of the House legislation won't be ready in time to go to the Senate, and would never pass through anyway. If the Republicans were truly concerned about immigration reform they would have done the hard work and hammered out a compromise between the two houses on the comprehensive plan. Instead they'll pass a passel of meaningless legislation to be finished in the lame duck session after the election...when they'll no longer need the issue if they win, and could care less if they lose. But the whole endeavor will make for good bumper stickers and 30 second sound bites about being tough on border security... and that's all that really matters.

It's all just smoke and mirrors. A cheap parlor trick to perform back home to prove that they are not a bunch of ineffectual Bush puppets.

But for Democrats this move creates a danger. The Republicans have proven time and time again that they can be quite effective at turning a non-issue into an important election weapon. They did it with the gay marriage, the phony terror alerts, and "family values."

If they can convince the American people that they have in fact done something to "secure the border" and make them safe not only from "invading Mexicans" but from the "terrorists" that have been hanging in out south of the border just waiting for drug smuggling coyotes to bring them across the desert to attack a mall near you, they might be able to just pull this one out of their behinds. It’s a big "if" … but it wouldn't be the first time Republicans have forced the Democrats to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

The Democrats must start to frame this election before the Republicans do it for them. This has been a do-nothing, rubberstamp, corrupt, spendthrift Congress for the past six years while under Republican control, and that needs to be hammered home consistently. This election is not about immigration, it's about allowing Bush to go unchecked for two more years. Democrats must remember that and not allow this issue to get in the way