In DREAM Act vote, a measure of GOP’s shift

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WASHINGTON — After years of courting Latino voters with a softer tone on immigration, Republican leaders in Congress have all but abandoned that posture, risking what remains of GOP support among the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population.

The latest example is the near-unanimous opposition
by Senate Republicans to the DREAM Act, a measure that provides a way
for some illegal immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children to
become citizens.

The bill once was seen as a bipartisan initiative that offered the GOP a bridge to Latino voters. But in a Senate debate last week, Republicans branded the measure as “amnesty,” denouncing it as ripe for abuse.

The party’s once solicitous outreach to Latino
voters has been all but drowned out by a powerful grass-roots movement
incensed over illegal immigration. GOP lawmakers are increasingly fearful of incurring the movement’s wrath.

Republicans logged victories in last month’s midterm
elections, relying on support from their core voters and disaffected
independents. But the GOP approach to immigration may come back to haunt the party.

“The longer the Republican Party appears
to be the party that is adamantly against the most important issues to
the Latino community, the more they threaten any long-term attempts to
create a political party that includes Latinos,” said Jaime Regalado, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs at California State, Los Angeles.

Republicans say they are simply listening to voters on the issue.

They point to the victories of several prominent Republican Latinos in last month’s elections — including Sen.-elect Marco Rubio in Florida, the son of Cuban immigrants, who does not support the DREAM Act — as evidence that Latinos aren’t uniform in their opinions.

“There’s no way I can go to the people in South Carolina and say, ‘Let’s pass the DREAM Act,’ when we’ve done nothing on the border and there’s a raging war in Mexico,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. “Most Hispanics I talk to know that it’s got to be comprehensive; they want the border security.”

The bill now hangs in limbo in the Senate, where Sen. Harry Reid, the Democratic leader, has promised a vote before the end of the lame-duck congressional session.

Republican senators who voted for the DREAM Act just
three years ago have changed their positions. Others have avoided
taking a stance, saying tax and spending issues were more important to
them at the moment.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah,
co-authored the DREAM Act nearly 10 years ago, but has turned against
it. “Times have changed. Our nation’s unemployment rate is almost 10
percent, so Sen. Hatch believes the focus needs to be on righting our
economic ship,” said Antonia Ferrier, a spokeswoman for Hatch.

Hatch’s cautious critique reveals the delicate
balance some Republicans are trying to strike. Hatch is among elected
officials now facing pressure from grass-roots groups unhappy with the GOP’s record on immigration. Hatch’s colleague from Utah, Sen. Bob Bennett, was ousted by tea party conservatives in his primary this year. Hatch may in next in 2012.

But Republicans must also be wary of backlash from a group that will be critical the party’s future, particularly in the West.

Nearly 40 percent of all Latinos in the U.S. are
immigrants and a vast majority of Latino voters — 85 percent, according
to a recent poll by the Pew Hispanic Center — support creation of a
pathway to citizenship for immigrants living in the country illegally.

That’s left many Republicans searching for a middle position. In Congress last week, Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader from Kentucky,
lashed out at the way Democrats sought to bring the DREAM Act to a
vote. Other Republicans dismissed the effort as Reid’s attempt to
reward a constituency key to his surprise victory last month.

Outside of Congress, presidential
hopefuls and party leaders are exploring other ways to emphasize issues
that resonate with Latinos — social issues, security and jobs.

Still, there are few Republicans advertising their support for the type of immigration revisions reform that won 22 GOP votes in the Senate in 2006, two years after a Republican White House made an appeal to Latino voters a top central tactic.

In 2004, President George W. Bush won roughly 40 percent of the Latino vote and set what some consider the bar for Republicans.

Since then, anti-immigration fervor has risen with
an increase of violence near the border and an economic downturn
persisting. Fewer politicians of either party are eager to pass a bill
that critics cast as spurring competition for jobs and favoring illegal
immigrants. In the House last week, 38 Democrats voted against the
bill, which passed 216-198. Eight Republicans voted in favor.

The DREAM Act would set a path to citizenship for
college students and military service members who came to the U.S.
before age 16 and have lived in the country for five years. Estimates
say that after 10 years, roughly 1.2 million immigrants would take
advantage.

Democrats are planning to make it difficult for Latinos to forget how far the GOP has moved away from immigration reform. The White House
pushed last week for passage of the DREAM Act. Later, a senior
administration official, who requested anonymity because of the
sensitivity of the political discussions, noted: “This is clearly a
vote that will be remembered.”

Democrats highlight comments like those by Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.,
one of the bill’s most vocal opponents, who worried the bill would
allow “drunk drivers, gang members, even those who commit certain
sexual offenses” to gain citizenship.

The Republican takeover of the House is certain to
further shift the legislative debate from legal status for illegal
immigrants to a border-security-first approach. Many Republicans favor
a fresh look at the constitutional definition of citizenship,
challenging the provision that grants citizenship to anyone born in the
U.S.

Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, the incoming chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said that his top priority next year would be helping “generate jobs for American workers.”

Smith said he favors “worksite enforcement efforts” and would oppose efforts to establish “amnesty” for illegal immigrants.

Perhaps signaling the tone of the committee’s new
direction, seven Republican senators on the committee recently sent a
letter asking the Department of Homeland Security how much money it would need to deport every illegal immigrant the government encounters.

Reform advocates say they see little action until
after the political climate passes. And moderate Republicans inclined
toward immigration reform are also waiting and watching.

“They’re hoping this blows over after 2012,” Regalado said.

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(c) 2010, Tribune Co.

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