Mad Voter: Immigration reform is Dems chance to lead

By: Joan McCarter
12/19/2007
• Republican presidential candidates are so focused on proving they'll be tougher than their opponents on illegal immigration that a coalition of clergy are pleading for a cease-fire. Will the candidate's heed their call?

The polls keep coming in on immigration, and the polls keep showing that the message the GOP Presidential candidates (as noted by Richard Martin at New West yesterday) is far harsher than American attitudes on the issue, and the GOP is losing Hispanic voters in droves. Could Republican voters in Iowa really be so concerned by the 3.7 percent of their population that's Hispanic really running everyone else off?
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Martin notes a new Pew poll that found "Hispanic registered voters nationally favor Democrats to Republicans by 57 to 23 percent, a 34-point gap that has increased by more than 10 points since 2006." And how about this LA Times poll

that shows 60 percent national support for an earned path to citizenship for the 11-12 million undocumented immigrants in the country. Remarkably, this poll shows 62% support for this earned path with Republican voters. And this poll, like almost every other poll taken in the last few years shows immigration to the be the top issue with just 15 percent of all voters (see this new memo from the National Immigration Forum summarizing dozens of public polls on immigration). [Emphasis in the original.]
It could be voters have a much more nuanced and sophisticated approach to the issue than the pundits and politicians give them credit for. Wouldn't that be a surprise. That more nuanced view could come from actual experience. Consider what's happened in Arizona since the state passed a new harsh law that cracks down on employers who hire undocumented workers, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.

PHOENIX -- Arizona businesses are firing Hispanic immigrants, moving operations to Mexico and freezing expansion plans ahead of a new law that cracks down on employers who hire undocumented workers....

Arizona's law, believed to be the strictest in the nation, is shaping up as a test of how employers will react when faced with real sanctions for hiring undocumented labor. It is being closely watched by businesses across the country. While proponents say the crackdown will save the state money on services for illegal immigrants, some businesspeople fear Arizona's economic growth may be at risk.

Under the law, people will be encouraged to contact a county sheriff's or county attorney's office to report businesses they suspect of employing an illegal immigrant. After the sheriff investigates, the county attorney can then seek to suspend and ultimately revoke the business license of an employer who knowingly hires an illegal immigrant. The measure would also require all Arizona businesses to use E-Verify, a federal online database, to confirm that new hires have valid Social Security numbers and are eligible for employment....

About 500,000 undocumented immigrants live in Arizona, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, and independent estimates suggest about 350,000 of them are working. Immigrants, both legal and illegal, account for 14% of the work force. The state enjoys one of the fastest-growing economies in the nation, and its unemployment rate last year was just 3.3%.

A University of Arizona study released earlier this year concluded that economic output would drop 8.2% annually if noncitizen foreign-born workers were removed from the labor force. Researchers estimate about two-thirds of the workers in that category are in the state illegally.


That's the part of the debate that all too often gets left out when cynical politicians try to exploit the unease and the fear so many feel when the economy is faltering, the national mood is uncertain, and people are worried about the security of everything from their jobs, to their homes, to their kids' schools. The problem is, when politicians run on promises of cracking down on illegal immigration, they end up with results like those the Journal reported: businesses closing up and jobs being lost. By increasing the burden for businesses to prove they are only employing documented workers, government is just shifting the economic burden that's one of the primary costs of our broken system.

There's no question that comprehensive immigration policy reform has to happen in this country, but the strategy we see in the GOP candidates of appealing to the worse emotions of their base is doing nothing to advance workable solutions. Immigration could be one of the most significant political and governing opportunities for Democrats in the coming years, and should provide a true test of whether they have what it takes to lead.

Joan McCarter is a contributing editor of DailyKos.com and a researcher of Western politics