GOP Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida considers himself serious about immigration reform, often working to find bipartisan solutions to the intractable battle. Still, his party continues to fail him time and again, including in 2014, when Republican House leaders dashed hopes that they might actually allow the Senate-passed bipartisan immigration bill to come to a vote in the House. Donald Trump is just one more slap in the face on immigration—and yet Diaz-Balart continues to support the GOP nominee. Alfonso Chardy writes:
After a week where Trump called for mass deportation, backtracked and came back to his original position, Diaz-Balart still doesn't know where Trump stands on an issue he's worked tirelessly on in Congress.
“Who really knows," Diaz-Balart said. “There is bouncing back and forth. All this is frankly is a little bit of a guessing game because no one has ever seen any specifics.”
Maybe, Diaz-Balart hopes, Trump is finally reckoning with the issue. Maybe, he fears, Trump doesn't really understand its complexities. Either way, Diaz-Balart, whose parents were Cuban, still plans to vote for Trump, caught in a wringer between his party loyalty and his signature legislative issue.
C'mon—this is just ridiculous. Trump is a nothing short of menace on immigration reform, as with myriad other issues. Apparently the words "deportation force" weren't all that persuasive to Diaz-Balart, nor Trump’s inability to stick with a single position over the course of one week.
Whatever the case, immigration isn't gonna happen with Republicans in the majority—GOP leaders proved that in 2014 when they passed up a golden opportunity to capitalize on the issue.
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