Immigration should be based on more than just luck. But a blog by Lin Yang for Hyphen Magazine points out many immigrants are in this country because of luck. And that’s why immigration reform is not a necessity, it’s almost mandatory.
I won’t repeat Yang’s thinking here. You can read all about it in Hyphen Magazine. What I do want to point out that 2013 presents the best opportunity for immigration reform in a long time. Republicans can read the political tea leaves. If they don’t move closer to the center on issues such as immigration, they will be in danger of becoming extinct as a political party. For the second straight presidential election, voters of color overwhelming supported Barack Obama. The huge support is largely credited with securing President Obama a second term in the White House.
Much of that is blamed on the right wing rhetoric of many Republican candidates in the last election cycle. Why would you vote for a party if the welcome is pulled before you even have a chance to walk through the door? The makeover of the GOP begins with the President’s State of the Union on Tuesday.
U.S. Senator Marco Rubio will give the Republican response in both English and Spanish. It will be the first ever bilingual response to the State of the Union in the history of the United States. But to show you how much ground Republicans must make up with voters of color, an executive assistant at the Spanish language Univision immediately called the Senator “a loser” and “a token slave boy” on Univision’s Facebook page. Univision immediately apologized and pulled the statement from Facebook.
While the assistant’s remarks don’t necessarily reflect the perspective of Univision, it just may show that the damage has been done. It’ll take a lot more than just symbolism for the Republicans to gain the trust of voters of color.
