February 5, 2013, House majority leader Eric Cantor (this site also provides the speech, talk on immigration given around 32 minutes) of
Virginia, with a sign saying “#MakingLifeWork—For More People—”
on his podium, spoke at the American Enterprise Institute and presented
a more flexible Republican agenda. Cantor touched on the topics of education,
healthcare, job creation, government spending, taxing, and scientific research,
but the most notable subject that made most of the headlines was Cantor’s
position on immigration.
At the end of his speech, Cantor essentially supported the
principles of the Dream Act, shifting from his stance in 2010 when he opposed
the Dream Act and the Republicans in the Senate killed it with a filibuster.
Cantor proposed that it was “time to provide an opportunity for legal residence
and citizenship for those who were brought to this country as children and who
know no other home” and also to prioritize “border security, employment
verification and creating a workable guest worker program” along with a
bipartisan solution. Cantor also called on Congress to pass legislation
allowing foreign students with an American education in STEM fields to remain in the
US.
Propositions on immigration have been a failure for the
Republicans in terms of support from the Latinos. It is obvious Republicans
will attempt to soften their stance on immigration to gain the Latino vote.
Some, however, are dissatisfied, like Lynn Tramonte, Deputy
Director of America’s Voice, an immigration organization, saying that Cantor
merely presented a “change in tone” that is “not enough” and that the country
“need[s] a bold change in policy too.” Tramonte is thus skeptical of the gain
in Latino vote the Republicans hope to receive unless they pass “an immigration
law that includes a roadmap to citizenship for qualified immigrants without
papers” and not try to “appease the anti-immigration zealots in their
Party.”
Do you think the Republican Party will be successful in
gaining Hispanic support? Does Cantor sound promising or does his lack of
specifics on immigration set him and the Party back?
2 comments:
I think the Republicans won't be swinging the Hispanic vote for a while. Even though they are starting to soften their stance on immigration, it is still too restricting in my opinion. For example, if they allow foreign students to stay only if they are in the STEM field, they're only allowing a small number of immigrants to stay. While Cantor does sound pretty sincere, his lack of details show that they still have a long way to go till they can get the Hispanic vote.
I agree with Marvin; the Hispanic vote has traditionally been for the Democratic Party for much of the history of United States, and a slight change in Republican sentiment certainly won't do much to sway the majority of the Hispanic population to vote Republican. Also, the Republican effort to gain more Hispanic votes may also alienate those who support the traditional Republican stance against immigration, namely blue-collar workers who had abandoned the Democratic Party for their very pro-immigration stance (as well as pro-affirmative action stance). All in all, it's a difficult choice for the Republican Party to make, for while the steady increase in the Hispanic population makes the Hispanic vote increase in importance, the Republican Party would be unwise to abandon their traditional constituent.
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