Earlier this century, conventional political wisdom posited that Republicans would never be able to win a national election unless the party out-pandered the Democrats on the issue of amnesty for illegal aliens. Republican political “experts,” who spent too much time listening to other “experts” instead of actual voters, insisted that supporting massive amnesties for illegal aliens was the key to unlocking the Hispanic vote for the party.
John McCain and Mitt Romney took the advice of the experts to heart and got wiped out in 2008 and 2012, garnering just 31 percent and 27 percent of Hispanic votes, respectively. Donald Trump who, to put it mildly, eschewed conventional wisdom on just about everything, fared no worse among Hispanic voters than McCain or Romney when he eked out a victory in 2016, and significantly increased the Republicans’ share of the Hispanic vote in 2020.
Nevertheless, a handful of House Republicans, led by Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar of Florida, have decided that 2022 might be a good time to dust-off the old McCain/Romney playbook and give it another try. Their bill, dubbed the Dignity Act, revives failed Republican efforts to grant amnesty to nearly every illegal alien in the United States, while appeasing business interests by promising them greater access to cheap foreign labor. While the Biden administration is making a mockery of the laws we have now, the bill promises the American public better border and immigration enforcement in the future.
Ignoring the fact that amnesty for illegal aliens and large increases in new immigration aren’t anywhere near the top of the wish list for Hispanic voters, Rep. Salazar declares, “There’s a very big movement within the Republican Party understanding that this is the invitation letter for the browns, the Hispanics, the Latinos, you know, the largest minority in the country, welcoming them into the into the Republican Party, because we know that we need them in order to continue improving the American economy.”
If opening up our borders and promising amnesty to just about everyone who is, or ever has been, in the United States illegally were indeed the “invitation letter” Hispanic voters have been waiting for, President Biden would be basking in the adulation of that segment of the electorate. Instead, his approval rating among Hispanic voters is an abysmal 28 percent, according to a recent Quinnipiac poll – significantly worse than his standing among voters generally.
Actual Hispanic voters, as opposed to elitists who claim to speak on behalf of this diverse group of 23 million, care far more about the same issues that keep other voters awake at night: a 7.5 percent inflation rate; runaway government spending; a seemingly endless coronavirus pandemic; the surge of violent crime on the streets of the cities where they live; access to health care; and the quality of their children’s education. Moreover, Hispanic voters are as alarmed as the rest of the public about Biden administration policies that have triggered an unprecedented crisis at the border. Hence, Biden’s 28 percent approval rating among Hispanic voters, which is actually 11 points worse than his standing among the electorate as a whole.
The Dignity Act is where bad policy meets bad politics. From a policy perspective, granting amnesty to millions of illegal aliens would do nothing to address any of the above-mentioned crises that threaten the well-being of the nation. It would probably make most of these matters worse, and trigger still greater levels of new illegal immigration.
Nor can the American public rely on legislative language promising future enforcement in the face of an administration bent of defying their obligation to enforce immigration laws. As Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas recently boasted that regardless of what the law might say, “our policy explicitly states that a non-citizen’s unlawful presence in the United States will not, by itself, be a basis for the initiation of an enforcement action.”
Politically, amnesty for illegal aliens is a priority for only a small segment of mostly white urban elitists who would sooner eat rat poison than vote for a Republican. Nationwide, Republicans have made inroads with Hispanic voters by focusing on bread-and-butter issues that are a much greater priority for this segment of the electorate.
If Republicans are once again hearing the Sirens’ Song of political consultants who, despite all evidence to the contrary, continue to insist that amnesty and expanded immigration make good public policy and are the keys to electoral success, they need to brush up on their Greek mythology. There’s a shipwreck in their future if they don’t steer clear.