OnTheIssuesLogo George W. Bush on Immigration President of the United States, Former Republican Governor (TX) 40% of Latino vote & won in 2004; McCains 33% lost in 2008 Strategists generally agree that to win the White House a Republican nominee needs to secure 40% of the Latino vote, the portion George W. Bush won in 2004. 4 years later Republican John McCain got only 33% when he lost to Democrat Barack Obama. But for Republicans seeking their partys nomination, the calculation can be different: it is more important to gain white working-class votes by staking out the position of being the toughest candidate on illegal immigrants than it is to court the ascending bloc of Latinos, whose influence registers mainly in the general election. So in the 2012 primary the former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney promoted the idea of a high-tech fence stretching the entire length of the US-Mexico border, nearly 2,000 miles long. Source: The Rise of Marco Rubio, by Manuel Rogi-Franzia, p.221 , Jun 19, 2012 Were a nation of immigrants, but also a nation of laws In 2006, I gave the first-ever primetime presidential address on immigration. Were a nation of laws, and we must enforce our laws, I said. Were also a nation of immigrants, and we must uphold that tradition, which has strengthened our country in so many ways. I then laid out a five-part plan to reform the immigration system: A major new investment in border security, including doubling the Border Patrol by the end of 2008 and temporarily deploy 6000 National Guard troops The temporary worker program, which would include a tamper-proof identification card Stricter immigration enforcement at businesses, which would reduce exploitation and help slow demand for illegal workers Promote assimilation by requiring immigrants to learn English What to do with the approximately twelve million illegal immigrants in the country? [I outlined] a rational middle ground between granting an automatic path to citizenship for every illegal immigrant and a program of mass deportation. Source: Decision Points, by Pres. George W. Bush, p.303-304 , Nov 9, 2010 Ended catch-and-release policy Bush ended catch and release, the practice of picking up illegal aliens from countries other than Mexico and then releasing them on their own recognizance until their deportation hearing, for which most never showed. Bush thought it encouraged contempt for law. So he expanded the facilities to hold these illegals until deportation hearings. In 2000, it took nearly a hundred days on average to process someone out of the country. When Bush left office, it took less than twenty.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 20:23:18 +0000
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