As the battle over Latino voters heats up in this year’s Arizona Senate race, U.S. Sen. John McCain welcomed U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce President Javier Palomarez to Tucson yesterday.
Palomarez flew in from D.C. to give McCain the national chamber’s endorsement and praised McCain’s military service as well as his support of the Latino business community and his leadership in pushing a 2013 comprehensive immigration reform through the Senate. The so-called “Gang of Eight” bill later died when the GOP-controlled House refused to bring it up for vote.
“We’ve seen other candidates for the presidency run from the Gang of Eight bill,” Palomarez said. “Sen. McCain has never run from the Gang of Eight bill. He’s stood firm on what he did back then and he supports it today. It’s that kind of consistency and political courage that we endorse and few in this country have that kind of characteristic like John McCain does.”
The endorsement highlighted one of the storylines of the 2016 campaign: Republicans say McCain is too soft on immigration, while Democrats say he’s too much of a hardliner.
McCain’s likely Democratic opponent, Ann Kirkpatrick, debuted an online campaign ad yesterday that criticized McCain for what she called his “immigration doublespeak.” The ad highlighted McCain’s vote against the DREAM Act as well as his support for a border wall in his 2010 reelection campaign and his pledge to support Donald Trump, should he become the GOP presidential nominee.
Trump famously launched his White House run with a speech in which he characterized undocumented Mexican immigrants as “people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.” (On the positive side, Trump added that “some, I assume, are good people.”)
And both Trump and Cruz have said that they want to deport all of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants now in the country, including the so-called DREAMers who were brought to country as children and who have grown up in the United States, rather than provide a path to citizenship as outlined in the Gang of Eight bill. (Cruz has been consistent on this point, while Trump has wavered from time to time—but Cruz has not promised a make Mexico pay for a border wall, so you can decide for yourself who is more a hardliner on the issue.)
McCain said yesterday that he believed some of the current Republican presidential candidates would eventually embrace a comprehensive immigration reform proposal similar to Gang of Eight bill. But when asked which of the candidates would do that, McCain said, “I don’t know, but I know this: I will do everything that I can to resolve this issue because I know that it has be resolved by whoever is president of the United States.”
The anti-immigrant rhetoric doesn’t appear to be helping the GOP presidential candidates win over Latino voters. A February Washington Post-Univision News poll showed that eight out of 10 Latino voters had an unfavorable opinion of Trump, while 44 percent had an unfavorable view of Cruz (compared to 39 percent who had a favorable view). And a Public Policy Polling survey of Arizona voters earlier this month showed that 70 percent of Latino voters disapproved of McCain’s job performance, while 26 percent approved of his job performance.
Palomarez said that the high disapproval numbers represented a major problem for the GOP presidential hopefuls because “every 30 second, a Latino turns 18 and becomes an eligible voter. That’s 60,000 brand-new voters every single month and that’s going to be the case for the next 21 years in a row.”
“I’ve had conversation with both Ted Cruz and Donald Trump on this issue of immigration and we’ve agreed to disagree,” Palomarez added. “They will never see the White House without at least 47 percent of the Hispanic vote. It’s simply not going to happen. So their challenge now is, what do you do if you get the nomination? How do you begin to un-ring the bell and how do you find a way to move forward to win the Latino vote. It’s going to be very, very difficult for some of them.”
This article appears in Mar 31 – Apr 6, 2016.
vendidos…
“Vendidos…”
Sin duda, Senor Kohn.
McCain brought open borders crime to AZ and the country. While he chased Obama Ben Laden to the gates of hell.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2015/02/27/opposition-to-immigration-reform-is-a-winning-strategy-for-republicans/
“By any measure, fears of (Illegal) immigration are driving many white Americans to the Republican Party. And, indeed, the Republican strategy on immigration appears to have been successful. Republicans now control the House and the Senate, the governor’s office in 31 states, and two-thirds of the state legislatures. They are winning the political war.”
“An even bigger factor is that the ties of racial and ethnic minorities to the Democratic Party are tenuous. Research by Taeku Lee and myself shows that most Latinos and Asian Americans don’t feel like they fit into either party. In national surveys, those who refuse to answer a question about party identification, those who claim that they do not think in partisan terms, and independents make up the clear majority of both groups. All told, 56 percent of Latinos and 57 percent of Asian-American identify as nonpartisans.
Even among blacks, there are signs of ambivalence. Almost 30 percent of blacks feel
that the Democratic Party does not work hard for black interests.”
http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20151016_As_Trump_fades__be_smart_about_immigration.html#disqus_thread
“Most Hispanics aren’t single-issue voters when it comes to immigration. A recent Gallup poll found that among registered Latino voters, 67 percent are at least willing to support a candidate who doesn’t share their views on immigration. And 18 percent don’t consider the issue important at all.
What’s more, many Hispanic citizens have little sympathy for immigrants who haven’t played by the rules. Especially among Latino voters born in the United States, resentment of immigrants who have entered the country illegally can run deep. Forty-two percent of American-born Hispanics disapprove of President Obama’s executive actions to prevent the deportation of illegal immigrants.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/12/no-joke-trump-can-win-plenty-of-latinos.html
Reuben Navarette: No Joke: Trump Can Win Plenty of Latinos
Gee, No wonder why I fall into the Proud Independent group.
If Trump didn’t exist, why he would have been invented:
https://pjmedia.com/victordavishanson/illegal-immigration-finally-turned-off-public/?singlepage=true
How Illegal Immigration Finally Turned Off the Public
“Why did the illegal-immigration issue launch Donald Trump’s campaign? Why did his recent tense press conference exchange with Univision’s Jorge Ramos please even some of Trump’s liberal critics? What is it about illegal immigration that has finally turned off so many Americans?”
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/08/18/30-million-illegal-immigrants-in-us-says-mexicos-former-ambassador/
30 Million Illegal Immigrants in US, Says Mexico’s Former Ambassador on MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.com/andrea-mitchell-reports/watch/backlash-grows-over-trump-s-immigration-plan-507691587765
“The former ambassador stated,” If you were to deport the 30 million undocumented immigrants in the United States that’s going to cost you about 130 billion dollars.”
http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/latino/edgard-portela/2016/02/25/fiesta-new-wave-mexican-immigrants-univision
Fiesta for New ‘Wave’ of Mexican Immigrants on Univision
http://www.mrctv.org/videos/fiesta-new-wave-mexican-immigrants-univision
“Despite official statistics showing immigration from Mexico is down in recent years, Univision has found an apparent exception in the case of immigrants from the Mexican state of Puebla.
ORLANDO SEGURA, UNIVISION: During the last 30 years three migrant waves of Pueblans to New York have existed. The first was in the 80’s, benefitting from the amnesty of Ronald Reagan. The second, during the economic boom of the presidency of Bill Clinton. The third, we are living through right now.”
According to a recent DHS report the number of unaccompanied alien children (UACs) coming across the border has doubled and the number of family units has tripled in fiscal year 2016 compared to the same time frame in fiscal year 2015.
http://www.cbp.gov/site-page/southwest-border-unaccompanied-alien-children-statistics-fy-2016
“The number of unaccompanied alien children (0-17 years old) that were apprehend between October 1- January 31 has doubled from 10,105 in 2015 to 20,455 in 2016. The number of family units apprehended in the same time period has almost tripled from 9,090 in 2015 to 24,616 in 2016.”
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/social-affairs/20151125/thousands-of-unaccompanied-children-crossed-us-mexico-border-in-october
Thousands of unaccompanied children crossed US-Mexico border in October
http://www.latintimes.com/us-border-arrests-immigrant-children-and-families-increased-52-percent-august-342201
US Border Arrests Of Immigrant Children And Families Increased 52 Percent in August
“According to statistics released by the U.S. Border Patrol nearly 10,000 unaccompanied minors and families were arrested in the month of August, a 52 percent jump from last year.”
http://www.ibtimes.com/immigration-reform-2015-immigrant-families-surging-again-us-border-homeland-security-2043891
Immigration Reform 2015: Immigrant Families Surging Again At US Border, Homeland Security Says
“Federal border officials might have spoken too soon when they predicted earlier this year that the level of illegal immigration to the U.S. among mothers and children would decrease. There was actually a surge of immigrant families crossing U.S. borders last month [July 2015], a top Department of Homeland Security official told a federal court Thursday.”
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/oct/21/surge-illegal-children-families-accelerates/?page=1
Surge of illegal children, families accelerates 10,000 caught at border in September
“The surge of children and families crossing the southwest border illegally accelerated again in September, leaving fiscal year 2015 the second-worst on record, according to numbers released Wednesday by the Border Patrol.”
http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/hearings/ongoing-migration-from-central-america-an-examination-of-fy2015-apprehensions
Ongoing Migration from Central America: An Examination of FY2015 Apprehensions
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/sep/9/20-pct-illegals-caught-border-have-criminal-record/
Agents say just 40 percent of U.S.-Mexico border under control
20 percent of illegals caught at border have criminal records
“Less than half of the U.S.-Mexico border is under “operational control,” and one out of every five illegal immigrants caught there has a criminal record, the chief of Border Patrol agents’ labor union told Congress Wednesday when detailing violence that increasingly spills over the international boundary.”
McCain? They must have a death wish.
I just rescued McCain’s last newsletter from the SPAM file. I should probably recognize that the computer knows best, but I like to look for areas of agreement. There is almost always one among the long list that sounds good to me. Though I recognize his reasons are probably different from mine. And this may be the reason for this endorsement. Compliment his good behaviors while ignoring the 95% of his thoughts and rants that seem to come from that alternative universe that Republican speechwriters live in…