Before President Obama won reelection with 71 percent of Latino voters, few Republicans supported granting undocumented immigrants a path to legalized status.
According to Takeaway partner The New York Times, Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee in President Obama's first term, was "resolutely opposed to most measures offering illegal immigrants a path to citizenship." Under Congressman Smith, immigration reform hearings "often focused on what he saw as serious and sometimes dangerous lapses in the Obama administration's enforcement of immigration laws."
Times have changed. Yesterday, the House Judiciary Committee, now under the direction of Congressman Robert W. Goodlatte, held the first of what will be many hearings on immigration reform in President Obama's second term. While House Republicans stopped short of recommending a path to citizenship, their compromise position will likely include a path to legalization. Similarly, in a speech at the American Enterprise Institute yesterday, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor seemed to indicate Republican support for legislation akin to the DREAM Act.
"It's no secret that there are 11 million people hear illegally, many of whom have become part of the fabric of our country," Cantor said at the conservative think tank. He went on to say that, in terms of new legislation, "A good place to start is with the kids. One of the great founding principles of our country was that children would not be punished for the mistakes of their parents. It is time to provide an opportunity for legal residence and citizenship for those who were brought to this country as children and who know no other home."
How does the House Republican plan compare to the bipartisan Senate approach, and President Obama's proposal? Fernando Pizarro, Washington correspondent for Univision, discusses the road ahead for immigration reform.
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The show is a co-production of WNYC Radio and Public Radio International, in collaboration with New York Times Radio and WGBH Boston.
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Comments [6]
Simple.
Latinos just have to remind legislators that there's a mid term
coming up. Just in case they think the presidential election was
a fluke.
Republicans in "safe" districts may want to consider the value of
"safe" in the minority.
This is primarily an issue at all, simply because republicans have had the epiphany of numbers from the last election.
Prior to that, they didn't quite share the revelations of "The Dream Act" and "Immigration Reform" that Sean Hannity and Eric Cantor now so willingly embrace.
Perhaps if they had, they could be considering other equally relevant issues now, instead of jumping over each other to show their support for comprehensive immigration reform, brought about NOT by the inherent value as much as the likely effect on the outcome of future elections.
This is a sweet spot for Latinos. I hope they make the most of it. It won't last.
Why does no one discuss the factors pushing immigrants out of their home countries? If the US congress wants to slow the influx of immigrants, they should look at US international economic policies and military policies. If we were not destroying the economies for the average person in Latin America with NAFTA and other similar free trade agreements, and if we were not invading countries around the world decade after decade, many people would not be in desperate situations leading them to immigrate to the US.
It is SO short sighted that politicians and news reporters and also your guest identify the problem behind immigration as an issue of laws that don't work or "a broken system."
People do not just uproot themselves from their lives and move to the US because we are a rich country. There are powerful forces driving them here, and many of them come from our own policies. Whether you see immigration as a problem in and of itself or not, it is essential to understand the forces behind it!
Now that we've heard the Republican cynical view, will we get a Democrats cynical view? And then can we get the two sides discussing their positions together on the same show? These one sided presentations are just too easy for everyone involved and can't move anyone's position toward solution.
Lamar Smith's truth--WH looks for votes--points out that few in DC want real change. The GOP wants the borders secure AND immigration reform. This GOP is not anti-South-of-the-Border. I'm pro--education reform, jobs increasing, debt reduction, WA$TE reduction, & more time to write, read, & dream.
As an independent I don't mind that the Republicans are making sure we don't drop all laws and allow immigration and related issues to go out of control. (Which I feel some activitists would like to do.) But I wish the Republicans weren't so anti-South-of-the-Border about the whole thing. We still have Russians, Israelis, Chinese, and more coming in... and not all of them are doing us any favors.
Unemployment is 7.9 with millions of US citizens having left the work force or struggling with part-time work.
How high is youth unemployment?
Remember when we were told this was the main priority?
Clearly the media does not.
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