Rep. Joe Barton (left) is working on immigration reform bill.
Whoa. Arch-conservative Texan Congressman Smokey Joe Barton claims he's
introducing a comprehensive immigration reform bill:
“It takes care of the minor children, it puts them on a path to citizenship, it puts an emphasis on controlling the border, and it has a real guest worker program that will work. On the adults who came here illegally without documentation, we’ll do an individual check by check by check, and if the only illegal act they committed was coming into the country without the proper documentation, we will put them on a path to legalization, but not citizenship.”
House Speaker John Boehner has refused to bring the Senate bill to a vote, and much of the talk since then has been about piecemeal legislation. This is the first suggestion that Republicans are looking at a comprehensive bill, addressing the DREAMers, border security and legalization.
This House bill wouldn't deliver a path to citizenship like the Senate bill. Republicans still think that keeping 11 million Latinos as second-class citizens will help them win the votes of the nation's other 40+ million Latinos. But still, better legalized than deported, and they can still be granted citizenship once Republicans are flushed out of office.
But what's amazing is that Republicans are potentially moving at all, what with their base heavily invested in their xenophobia. And already jittery over the fail of "repeal," this might be just be a final blow to their November hopes. So why is Barton moving on this at all? Because of his son's classmates.
I’m part of a majority party in the largest state that’s still majority Republican [Texas], and I want to keep it that way. My little boy is 8-years-old. He’s in the public schools in Ennis, Texas, and half of his class is Hispanic and his two best friends are Hispanic. They start everyday raising their hand and Pledging Allegiance to the American flag and then the Texas flag. They’re Americans, and we need to acknowledge that and find a way for those who wish to be part of the American dream an opportunity to make them legal."
The conservative base is in for a rocky summer. And Republicans face a choice: Kill their base this cycle and probably next, or entirely kill their future chances of victory.
