Increase in Latino Citizens in Calif. Could Impact Politics

La Opinion, Posted: Apr 29, 2008 (NCM News)

SACRAMENTO—A recent study by the Center for Policy for Immigrants in California revealed that 2.3 million legal immigrants in California are eligible for naturalization, and if they become naturalized, the number of Latino citizens will increase by 10 percent, reports Spanish language newspaper La Opinion. According to the report, 900,000 immigrants eligible for citizenship are Mexicans, while 800,000 are Asians. The report also revealed that 1.2 million children born to immigrant parents would be eligible to vote in the 2012 presidential election. Two-thirds of these minors are Latino. Rob Paral, author of the study asserts, “This report indicates that California is the center of immigration in the country, and if all legal immigrants are incorporated in the voting process, the change of the electorate in California will be dramatic.”

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Republicans wake up! We cannot continue the alarmist approach to immigration problems. Yes, immigration is at a state of crisis. No, we are not going to win with the current approach.

President Bush made significant inroads when he was elected to the presidency and received twice the national support of Latinos than Republicans in the two previous elections. But it hasn’t lasted. Our rhetoric of deportation and deprivation of social programs for illegal immigrants has lost us almost all of our support from the Latino voters.

Requiring photo ID would be a great start in order to prevent illegal immigrants from committing voter fraud, but that is not what we are talking about. We are talking about legal voters. This article is about immigrants eligible for citizenship.

It has been and still is my position that illegal immigration hurts legal immigrants the most because illegal immigrants compete for the same jobs and don’t pay taxes. However, I don’t believe that most legal, Latino, immigrants eligible to vote see it that way. They see deportation of illegal immigrants or lost jobs for illegal immigrants, rightly or wrongly, as unjust suffering of friends, neighbors, and fellow human beings.

Republicans have a lot in common with Latinos and we need to cultivate friendship and loyalty on that basis:

-         Catholics in general are the largest group of swing voters because they often favor government policies that contribute to the poor, are opposed to some of the wars that conservatives support, but have strong family values, work ethic and most poignantly are pro-life.

-         We should be able to get the Catholic, Latino vote by focusing on strong families, pro-life policies, and by constantly sending the message that conservatives care about the poor through private giving as well as wage war in order to help those suffering and oppressed in other countries.

-         We need to adopt immigration policies that will not hurt the families of Latinos (or anyone else). It seems to me that there is nothing worse to a Latino than a breaking up the family support system and preventing the bread-winner from supporting the family.

-         We can oppose illegal immigration without being alarmist and without supporting policies that are going to harm the families and friends of those whose support we need.

There is too much at stake here. There are too many issues that matter. We cannot afford to throw away the Latino vote and damage GOP-Latino relations for years. Don’t be mistaken. Here in California Reagan had great support from Latinos when he was governor, it was the more liberal Republican, Pete Wilson that lost the Latino vote. Latinos will support a conservative, as long as we support Latinos.

What do I support? A Reagan-esque Plan.

-         Build a fence. Stop illegal immigration. Enforce our borders and our laws.

-         Focus on winning the Latino vote, not deporting illegal immigrants.

-         Grant guest workers visas immediately for those that can prove they’ve been working here for the past year.

-         Put illegal immigrant who are not guilty of crimes unrelated to illegal immigration in the back of line to become citizens.

-         Create path to citizenship for illegal immigrants that requires them to pay their debt by paying a large fine close to the taxes that they’ve not paid over years of working in the U.S. Other options could include joining the military for a number of years in order to gain citizenship; obviously the military can set the standards for enrolment.

-         Audit employers. Heavily fine employers of illegal immigrants.