The Fight for the Immigration Soul of the Republican Party
There is a debate raging on the website of the National Review–the bastion of Conservative Republican thought. This debate is between the inward thinking, anti-immigrationists lead by the false conservative and now outed xenophobe Mark Krikorian, along with his political ally Rep. Lamar Smith verus the forward thinking and pro-immigrant Richard Nadler. Nadler’s recent series of articleseffectively and empirically rebutts the anti-immigration critics at the National Review on their sole immigration plan–mass deportation. Nadler points out what a deal breaker this plan is for Republicans and Hispanics into future generations. I have been echoing this point from the ground for some time, but Nadler takes it a step futher. He says that:
While Blog comments on affirmative immigration proposals continue to stream in which say things like: “What part of illegal don’t you understand”, “all ‘these’ people need to back to the hole they crawled out of,” and MUCH worse statements, the reality is that the Republican party is in great danger here. The Republican Party WAS the party of immigrants for a very long time. Ronald Reagan was extremely pro-immigrant (remember the “Shining City on a Hill speech) and signed into the law the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986-the last “Amensty.”
As someone with lifelong ties to the GOP, I view this fight for the immigration soul of the Republican Party as one very much worth having. True Republicans cannot allow anti-immigrationists, their close cousins the Hate Groups, and their shallow politicial allies to drive away the future of the party. The GOP needs to stand for an effective, strong and fair immigration law that CAN actually BE enforced, but which also answers the needs of the American family, business and society. This solution is possible, but only if the GOP stops pandering to the likes of Mark Krikorian and Lamar Smith.