Must-Read: Tim Kane: Immigration And The GOP
Must-Read: I must say, I think the sharp Tim Kane is indulging in a great deal of wishful thinking here. My reading was that the word “deport” was not mentioned because Trump did not think he needed to, and because others did not wish to give Trump an opportunity to remind the base how much they like him. The chances for sane, incremental, technocratic immigration policies thus look much less promising to me than they do to Tim:
: Immigration and The GOP: “At the first GOP presidential debate… moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News focused the night’s first question on…
…immigration…. Many of the immigration talking points of 2012, 2008, and before were absent. Nobody talked about the need for ‘comprehensive’ legislation…. We can hope this signals a recognition that Obama’s insistence on comprehensive legislation on immigration has yielded nothing but partisan point-scoring, and also signals a shift toward pragmatic, incremental reform. Still… incremental, piecemeal, and step-by-step were not uttered at all. Likewise, amnesty was not the centerpiece…. The word was mentioned, but never defined. Better yet, not a single candidate uttered the word ‘deport’…
In witness of my position, let me highlight two of Tim’s quotes from the candidates:
DONALD TRUMP: So, if it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t even be talking about illegal immigration, Chris. You wouldn’t even be talking about it. (APPLAUSE) This was not a subject that was on anybody’s mind until I brought it up at my announcement. And I said, “Mexico is sending.” Except the reporters, because they’re a very dishonest lot, generally speaking, in the world of politics, they didn’t cover my statement the way I said it. The fact is, since then, many killings, murders, crime, drugs pouring across the border, are money going out and the drugs coming in. And I said we need to build a wall, and it has to be built quickly. And I don’t mind having a big beautiful door in that wall so that people can come into this country legally. But we need, Jeb, to build a wall, we need to keep illegals out. (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) Border Patrol, I was at the border last week. Border Patrol, people that I deal with, that I talk to, they say this is what’s happening. Because our leaders are stupid. Our politicians are stupid. And the Mexican government is much smarter, much sharper, much more cunning. And they send the bad ones over because they don’t want to pay for them. They don’t want to take care of them. Why should they when the stupid leaders of the United States will do it for them? And that’s what is happening whether you like it or not.
RICK SANTORUM: Donald Trump actually seized on it when he talked about immigration. And I think the reason he did is because immigration is sort of an example of what’s broken and what’s wrong in Washington, D.C. You see, you have one side, the Democrats, and with immigration, all they care about is votes. They don’t care about American workers, they just care about bringing as many people in so they can get as many votes as they can. On the other side, you have so many Republicans, and what do they care about? Helping business make profits. There’s nobody out there looking out for the American worker. I’m looking out for the American worker. I’m the only one on this stage who has a plan that’s actually reduced—actually going to reduce immigration. Actually going to do something to help the American worker.