In order to win the GOP nomination, some of the presidential candidates are falling over themselves to prove who is the most punitive towards undocumented aliens and anyone who wants to help them. This may help these candidates in the primaries, which at this point is all they are seeking to win. However, to then turn around and seek the Hispanic vote in the general election will prove tricky.
To illustrate the hard-line stance GOP candidates are taking, according to an article in the Miami Herald: “During a campaign swing Tuesday through South Florida, Republican presidential contender Fred Thompson pushed for a crackdown on illegal immigrants and accused rival Rudy Giuliani of sheltering them as mayor of New York City.” Meanwhile, according to the New York Times, the resident House Nut Tom Tancredo “contacted the immigration service yesterday demanding that agents raid a senators news conference.”
Ironically, today the DREAM Act is up for a vote in the Senate. An article in USA Today states that: “Senate Democratic leaders have scheduled a showdown vote Wednesday on a bill that would give children brought to the USA by illegal immigrant parents a chance to qualify for citizenship.”
Please call or fax your Senators if you support this legislation. I personally do not have much hope of DREAM becoming law right now, even if (and that’s a big IF) it passes the Senate. The culture and climate regarding immigration is too polarized. If this bill does not pass the Senate, there is little hope for any positive changes to out immigration laws until 2009.
