The rapid expansion in California's Hispanic population has transformed the state's political balance, putting Republicans at a disadvantage in statewide elections.
But U.S. Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-CA/24)thinks he knows better. As the Chairman of the House Immigration Subcommittee, Rep. Gallegly is one of the "Three Amigos" guiding the Republican Party’s immigration strategy in Washington, along with Texas Rep. Lamar Smith and Iowa Rep. Steve King. Their goal: Drive undocumented immigrants out of the country.
New Census figures for California show the dominant and growing role Latino voters are playing in politics in the Golden State. National Journal summarized the findings:
The state’s Hispanic population grew by more than a quarter in the last decade, and Latinos now make up 38 percent of the state, which nearly surpasses non-Hispanic whites, who make up 40 percent of the population. Further, 51 percent of Californians younger than 18 are Latino. The political and policy ramifications of the rapid demographic shift in the nation’s largest state are huge.
And the Washington Post’s Dan Balz noted:
The rapid expansion in California's Hispanic population has transformed the state's political balance, putting Republicans at a disadvantage in statewide elections.
But U.S. Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-CA/24)thinks he knows better. As the Chairman of the House Immigration Subcommittee, Rep. Gallegly is one of the "Three Amigos" guiding the Republican Party’s immigration strategy in Washington, along with Texas Rep. Lamar Smith and Iowa Rep. Steve King. Their goal: Drive undocumented immigrants out of the country.
Gallegly has been the one spearheading a series of immigration hearings in recent weeks. One of his hearings attempted to drive a wedge between minority native-born workers and immigrant workers, leading to the following headline in Gallegly’s hometown paper: “Immigration Hearing Turns into Racial Battle.” This morning, Gallegly hosted a panel that sought to define all foreign-born workers as bad for America. Though in today's hearing, he said:
Anyone who knows me knows I'm a proponent of legal immigration, and opponent of illegal.
So what was the hearing for, exactly? If that isn't bad enough, he complains during the hearing that his teenage grandkids aren't able to find summer jobs in the fast food industry (tweeted by us here).
Amazingly, he has also recently [wrongly] asserted that this hard line approach is actually embraced by Latino voters, saying:
“Republican support is growing among Hispanic voters because Republicans agree with U.S. citizens of Hispanic descent that illegal immigration hurts all Americans.”
But not according to the Ventura County Star. In Ventura County, Gallegly’s own congressional district, the Star reports:
The Latino population continued to grow over the last decade, increasing from 33 percent of all residents in 2000 to 40 percent in 2010.
Despite this reality, Gallegly continues to push for the type of mass deportation policies that are overwhelmingly unpopular with Latino voters, who view immigration from an extremely personal and increasingly political lens. In the 2010 elections, 60% of Latino voters said immigration was either “the most important” or “one of the most important” factors in their voting decision.
For more on the hearings, please visit America's Voice's twitter page for some insightful (and witty) tweets.
Cross-Posted at America's Voice.
