Republicans Should Pass Immigration Bill

If the Bush bill on immigration does not pass in 2007, the Clinton immigration bill will pass in 2009. In other words, if the Republican president does not get credit for liberating millions of Hispanics from illegal status, a future Democratic president will. The consequences of a defeat of the immigration bill at Republican hands will be as profound among Hispanic voters as Goldwater’s opposition to the Civil Rights Bill of 1964 was among black voters. Hispanics increasingly want to vote Republican. Republicans should not drive them into the arms of Democrats by rejecting this bill.

---