Immigration Reform: A Eulogy

Nine months ago Political Whispers declared immigration reform dead.  President Obama’s executive amnesty was the final nail in the coffin that ended any ability for a compromise in this congress or future congresses.

Twenty-six State Attorney’s General filed suit in federal court against the executive action by the President to waive deportation and provide work permits to 5 million illegal aliens.  The trial court judge quickly issued an injunction at the request of the states.  That injunction has since been upheld by two appeals courts, determining that the executive order is likely to be overturned after a trial.

Immigration activists, both Republican and Democrat, hoped that the elevation of Paul Ryan to the House Speakership might end the logjam on immigration reform.  Speaker Ryan quickly squelched that daft hope stating that no immigration reform would be possible under President Obama because he could not be trusted to implement it.  Of course, Ryan is correct.

But a new reality is now setting in among hopeful reformers and it’s called citizen voting.  While immigration advocates have been touting public support for a “path to citizenship” and immigration reform generally, voters, according to recent polling are now favoring deportation of immigration violators.

According to new polling released by Investor’s Business Daily, 59 percent of voters now support mandatory deportation of illegal aliens.  Mandatory deportation gets majority support in all age groups except 18-24, every income group, among both women and men, at every level of educational achievement, and in rural, urban and suburban regions.

Apparently, the campaign of Donald Trump has made it OK again for American’s to believe that people who break our laws should be punished instead of receiving a golden ticket.  Of course, the impact of the uncontrolled mass immigration chaos in Europe is likely also having a sobering effect on Americans, many of whom are rediscovering that what is happening in Europe has been happening in the United States on a much slower scale for many years.

California’s growing poverty levels can in part be traced to illegal immigration in the state.  According to the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), half of ALL illegal aliens in California would qualify for Medi-Cal if the program where opened to them as many Democrats wish to do.  That doesn’t include their citizen children who already do qualify for the program.  According to Reuters, 51 percent of illegal aliens are impoverished.

Not only does California have the highest poverty rates in the country, we want to import more.

The issue of illegal immigration is beginning to resonate with the public, to the detriment of open-borders Democrats and Republicans.  Presidential candidates Jeb Bush and John Kasich continue to flounder in the polls, and even Marco Rubio, who has benefitted recently by talking about enforcement first has found his co-authoring of the Senate Amnesty Bill to be a continuous drag on his campaign.

Hillary Clinton, who already has the Democratic nomination wrapped up, is watching her polling slip below every leading Republican in recent polling.  It’s not just that voters have a trust-gap with Clinton, it’s also her continued support for amnesty and President Obama’s executive orders that are causing a drag on her support.

Now, immigration activists will claim that Hispanics and other minorities will be dissuaded by Republican opposition to immigration reform.  But, who is harmed the most by millions of unskilled people flooding into our labor market unlawfully (or made lawful by President Obama’s order)?  The answer is simple, unskilled and under/unemployed Americans, millions of whom happen to be African American and Hispanic.

Watch for leading Republican candidates to make that pitch to African American churches in the coming months.

The “times they are a-changing.”  Again.