In the early 1990s California was going through some tough economic times and Republican governor Pete Wilson saw an opportunity and used the undocumented worker issue as a way to gain easy political support from the economically disgruntled population.

He championed a draconian proposition, 187, which would deny emergency care and education to undocumented workers and would have turned doctors, nurses, teachers and police into immigration agents. Not too different from what many propose today.

And the Republican rhetoric was very similar to what it is today: ethnic bashing barely clothed in immigration reform language. Although many Republican opponents claimed that they were against illegal immigrants, many of their attacks focused on Mexicans, displayed in a series of gross stereotyping.

I still remember how I was listening to Gordon Liddy a few years ago, and a caller said that he a group of illegal immigrants talking Spanish in the streets. This statement disturbed me a lot since there is no way that anyone can identify an illegal alien just by looking at them. They could be legally here; they could have lived in the U.S. for generations. The only marker was skin color and Spanish.

What was the end result in California? Thousands of legal immigrants submitted their citizenship applications so that they could vote. Most of them registered as Democrats. A generation of young Latinos citizens witnessed how Republicans directed ethnic hatred towards for political gain, and are very distrustful of the Republican Party.

The economy in California improved, and most Californians came back to their senses and stopped caring about illegal immigrants because they were doing well again. Pete Wilson became isolated, now radioactive from being so closely associated with rousing ethnic tensions.

So Republicans have done this at a national level. So the current immigration debate and their previous track record with African Americans means that the GOP was alienated something like 23% of the population, counting African Americans and Latinos together. And the numbers would be a lot smaller if it weren't because the Republicans have the solid support of the Cuban community in Florida thanks to the special immigration breaks that they receive.

Can we still claim that Republican strategists are geniuses?

Since proposition 187 California has seen enormous "native" migration to other states

Net population growth in California is a direct result of illegal and first and second generation legal immigrants

Immigration is a really tough issue.  I think the ultimate solution is letting the states decide

This is already happening in our own backyard.

Without getting too political Maryland is leaning one way and Virginia is leaning the other.  I actually think this is healthy and shows that both "sides" of this issue can exist simultaneoulsy.

 

When I came back to California in the early mid 1990s, it was losing 'native' people. When the economy got well, a few years later, people were moving to California. Then the dot com happened, and the trend reversed.

One problem there is real estate. The market gets so hot during boom periods, that people cannot afford to live there when an economic downturn happens, so they leave the state.

It's delightful to see Hispanics "desert the Republican Party in droves" over immigration. But one should ask why they should come over to our side when Democrats such as Jim Webb, Jon Tester and Claire McCaskill vote with the majority of Republicans to kill the Senate immigration compromise, without offering a realistic and achievable alternative that would establish a more humane policy.
  Jim Webster
  Arlington

Because it was a cheap labor bill that de-emphasized citizenship.  The worst hit demographic from open borders was Mexican Americans in terms of wage decline and working conditions.  "Free agent" citizens competing with "indentured servant" guest workers is not good solution.  In fact it sounds more like apartheid.  Webb, Tester and McCaskill were just sticking up for the "free agents" of all races, ages and skill levels.

Rookie senators Webb, Tester and McCaskill may not be your classic blue state Senators, but they are blue collar senators looking out for working class Americans both native and immigrant.

If these three Senators had been tasked with crafting a bill, we'd probably have a "realistic and achievable" and most importantly fair "alternative that would establish a more humane policy".

Saying we'll just make all illegals into guest workers and create and expand even more guest worker programs so that more companies can have cheap labor and the middle class won't get too uppity and poor people will shut up and accept that all they're going to get is the minimum wage is not "comprehensive immigration reform".

The amount of money needed to legalize one's status meant that only the wealthiest of illegal immigrants would be able to go through the process. And the change in criteria for legally bringing relatives into the country would change and put them at the back of the line.

But more than anything else, the Democrats didn't participate in a hate fest against Hispanics. Many of the Republican votes against the bill were fueled by racism and xenophobia, and we know it.

and opportunity for ALL Americans.  The Republicans...well, not so much.

I think Hispanics have proven to be very independent in their politcal ideology. Although Bush did well, it may have had more to do with the fact the Hispanic vote never connected to the Kerry campaign. Al Gore did better three-fold with the Hispanic vote in his run for President. I think that the greater Hispanic vote is more independent in allegiance than anyone wants to admit. 2008 is a long way off in politcal time and the more people look at this failed bill and look at those who would have supported it it could cause problems down the road in a general election on both sides. Immigration reform has many at odds, even within the Hispanic community. Some of the fastest growing small business in Amercia today are those run by Hispanics and the issue may simply come down to labor resources not neccesarily citizenship.

In 2004 Team Bush-Cheney courted the Hispanic vote..and the now "deep sixed" immigration bill was a key component to the allure. What a difference 4 years makes.

Labeled the "New Soccer Moms" in 2004..the Latino vote was essential for a Bush victory in 2004. GOP successfully increased the Bush Hispanic voter turn-out from 35% in 2000 to 44% in 2004.

Great 2004 recaps here :
America's New Soccer Moms: Latinos a Swing Vote in 2004
[http://news.pacificn...]

President George W. Bush offers undocumented immigrants temporary work permits. The Democrats may choose a governor with Mexican heritage as a vice presidential candidate. And the Feb. 3 Democratic primaries are labeled "Hispanic Tuesday."

Bottom line: We Latinos are the new "soccer moms."

The new swing voters have last names like Gonzales or Lopez. They care as much about education and the economy as the warmth of a particular candidate's personality. And most pollsters say their votes are key to victory in November

and here:
Hispanics Boost G.O.P
[http://www.hispanico...]

?Republicans worked very, very hard to attract them,? says Stephen Hess, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Hess says there were ?cross pressures? on Latino voters. On one hand, many have low incomes that make them open to Democratic promises to help the poor and disadvantaged. But Latinos also have strong family values, Hess says, and Catholic moral values that made Bush?s anti-gay marriage and anti-abortion stances appealing.

With latest report of "no-shows" of GOP presidential candidates at the NALEO conference..makes one wonder if GOPs will go full spead ahead with the "xenophobia" strategy a la Goode.