For the second time in a row during his State of the Union, President Obama urged Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform. And, for the second time in a row, thunderous applause echoed from both sides of the House chamber as members of Congress signaled their support for the measure. It hasn't even been two weeks since that demonstration of bipartisan enthusiasm, and already the prospects of immigration reform in Congress are slipping away. Sadly, the impetus which propelled immigration reform forward in 2013 is the same one that is dashing its chances of passage in 2014: electoral politics.
It was only a year ago that a bipartisan group of eight Senators--from the staunchly liberal Dick Durbin to the Tea Party Activist Marco Rubio-- released a set of principles that should be included in an immigration reform package, which included a pathway to citizenship and tighter border security.
Last year’s drive for sudden inspiring bipartisanship was not a newfound concern for the issue of illegal immigrants in the United States—that problem has existed for years; the true drive for reform rested in electoral politics. Specifically, the electoral drubbing the Republicans received across the country in part due to the Hispanic vote going overwhelmingly for the President in 2012. Former Presidential hopeful Senator John McCain admitted as much in an interview. When asked how to convince members of his party to vote for an immigration reform package, Senator McCain candidly stated, “I’ll give you a little straight talk. Look at the last election.”
Looking at the last election, it was understandable why Senator McCain and many other Congressional Republicans became so inspired to work on an immigration reform package. While the President actually lost support from most other demographic groups since his first election in 2008, Latino voters sided with the President by a larger margin in 2012 than they did in 2008, with 71% of Latino voters supporting President Obama in last November’s election. Several swing states went for the President by an even larger margin. Furthermore, Hispanic political affiliation skews heavily toward the Democratic Party, with nearly 70% identifying with that party. Only 20% of Hispanics identify with the Republican Party, and that number has been steadily falling.
But now it’s 2014, and the Republicans have a new political strategy. Gone are the days of trying to win over Hispanics in elections. They don’t need to worry about them until 2016 apparently. Recently Speaker John Boehner remarked that immigration reform would be difficult to pass this year because his Republican colleagues and the American people don’t trust President Barack Obama. Translation: The President is unpopular right now and it might hurt Republicans in the midterm elections to solve something as big and divisive as immigration reform. Never mind that it is one of the country’s largest unsolved problems that directly affects over ten million people. Republicans are holding out until after the election now, and making excuses as to why they cannot pass reform. They are also hoping that they will take the Senate in 2014, giving them almost complete control over the path forward on immigration reform.
This issue is entirely political for the GOP, the only question is which political motivation will win out in the end. The answer to this question remains to be seen, but there is a deeper issue at stake in all of this. Why is it that the Republicans only seem to think an issue is serious enough to warrant working with the Democrats if it hurts them in elections? They find no shortage of inspiration to work on immigration reform in the wake of an electoral defeat, and no shortage of excuses for inaction when election forecasts are seemingly in their favor. There is something terribly wrong with all of this, but I guess that’s politics.