Paul's plan has two phases to it. The first one includes heavily securing America's borders to keep the number of illegal immigrants from expanding more. This involves getting bi-partisan congressional support for greater border patrol.
The second is to create a path for illegal immigrants to have a more permanent status. “After ensuring border security, I then would normalize the status of 11 million undocumented citizens so they can join the work force and pay taxes. I would normalize them at a rate of about two million per year.” Interestingly enough, in his speech he never used the word citizen, rather, it seems like he has something like a long term green card in mind.
Although it has not been announced yet, Rand Paul seems to be starting his campaign for the 2016 presidential elections. This speech shows a more progressive view then typical Republican platform, showing how Paul seems to be trying to attract a wider band of constituencies that has not been popular with the Republican party in recent years, such has Hispanics.
What do you think of Paul's plan for immigration reform? What do you think is the best solution to the 12 million illegal immigrants living in America?
6 comments:
I think this is good news for America and high time that we finally made decisive plans for all the immigrants in our country. Even originally, deporting so many people seemed out of place and arguments against making them citizens were far fetched. The plan as summarized seems to have bits of what both parties had in mind, a decent compromise, at least for now. Furthermore, it has been said for months now that the Republican party needs to make some major changes, and if this is their first step in winning back the Hispanic vote, I look forward to seeing where this leads in the end.
I think it’s important to remember that not all 12 million illegal immigrants come from south of the border. Many immigrants come here and overstay their visas and that is something that also needs to be thought about if the US wants to be efficient in limiting illegal immigration and eventually have those immigrants achieve a state of residency or citizenship. I don’t know if Paul’s speech will lead to a permanent solution to this issue, but having a plan will at least hopefully get the ball rolling on how exactly bipartisan reform would come about.
Like Smita said, Rand Paul's position on illegal immigration may signal the start of change in the Republican Party's ideology as an attempt to win back votes. However, if this is one of Paul's main motives for his immigration policy, I don't see it having a significant effect on the Hispanic voting population. The vast majority of Hispanics in America are legal, where illegal immigration does not directly affect them. I remember last semester we discussed a poll finding that showed that Hispanic-Americans didn't consider immigration issues a priority for the government. In other words, the Hispanic constituency is not solely defined by their views on illegal immigration.
Rand Paul's stance on immigration seems very different and more moderate than his father's. Ron Paul's libertarian views on topics most likely lead to his downfall in the 2012 elections. Since Rand wants to run in the 2016 elections, he's thinking now what he can do to appeal to a broader spectrum of voters. By allowing undocumented immigrants a chance at citizenship while still remaining in the US is a big step for an up and coming Republican candidate. Maybe Rand is learning from his father's mistakes and treading carefully towards the presidency.
Republicans did terribly with latino voters in the 2012 elections, I can see how this would be a strategic move for the 2016 elections. However, the author of this post did bring up an interesting point that Rand Paul did not mention anything about the illegal immigrants being provided with a pathway to citizenship. Therefore, those immigrants, under a green card, would not be able to vote in the 2016 election.
Though there may be a better solution sometime in the future, for now, this seems like the “best solution” for the Republican Party: inner party negotiation, and adapting traditional beliefs to fit a changing demographic which as Ali mentioned definitely helped ensure the demise of Mitt Romney in our most recent election. I like Rand Paul. Unlike Mitt Romney, he is young, focused on social issues, and, more importantly, focused on appealing to the modern youth of America who demand open-mindedness and willingness to give and take here and there. Paul’s proposed solution, though not completely ironed out, is genius because it represents a compromise that might actually propel the Republican Party in the right direction; not only is he staying true to traditional Republican ideals, namely strong and heavily secure border control (which will please his fellow party members), but he is demonstrating an eagerness to work around his party’s paralyzing stubbornness by seeking bipartisan cooperation and the right to work in America, even if one is officially documented as illegal. Like I said, his plan isn’t completely foolproof and I am still skeptical about potential “permanent green cards,” but I give Rand Paul credit for having the audacity to be one of the first to start attracting the vital minority constituencies the Republican Party is so desperately lacking.
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