Immigrants and Politics Blog

[Posting from Irene Bloemraad on a story that appeared in the New York Times' Week In Review section. Good summary of the issues rise and fall--now, and in the past].

March 2, 2008
The Border and the Ballot Box
By DAVID LEONHARDT, New York Times

ON June 7 of last year, a bill to overhaul the nation’s immigration system — a bill supported by President Bush and the Democratic leaders of Congress — died in the Senate. It died mostly because of grass-roots opposition, and its downfall appeared to serve as an announcement of the issue’s new political potency. For much of 2007, immigration seemed certain to play a dominant role in the 2008 presidential campaign.

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[KR: Given all of the stories earlier in the year about whether Obama, a second-generation immigrant, was black enough to get African American support, it is perhaps surprising and ironic that he is losing the immigrant vote to Hillary Clinton. Below are links to news articles and opeds trying to make sense of why Obama is heavily losing among Latino and Asian American voters, with potential explanations ranging from name-recognition advantage, to better outreach by Clinton, to intergroup prejudice].

“Asians were a surprise,” said Bruce Cain, director of the University of California’s Washington Center. “It’s the first (presidential) election we have seen where Asian voters were a big factor. They are about 8 percent of the Democratic electorate…. The two major immigrant groups voted for Clinton as opposed to the candidate who has the immigrant background.”

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[KR: A reporter asked me a couple of days ago about immigration and the primary races, and wanted to know why McCain has been able to overcome that issue. Gerald Seib of the Wall Street Journal provides some possible reasons below. Whatever the explanation, it certainly turns the conventional wisdom of 2006 on its head -- that immigrant legalization is a third-rail issue for a large part of the GOP base. The big question if McCain gets the nod is: Where will the anti-immigration voter go?]

McCain Gains as Furor Over Immigration Cools
January 29, 2008

CAPITAL JOURNAL
By GERALD SEIB

Six months ago, when Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign was left for dead at the side of the road to the White House, he seemed to have perished because he was in the wrong place on two important issues: Iraq and immigration.

Today, as Republican voters go to the polls in Florida to determine whether Sen. McCain has become the clear favorite to win the Republican nomination, it is worth considering how things have turned around.
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[KR: Apparently, the Minutemen organization is not deemed to be a group that advocates discrimination, and is thus allowed to participate in Adopt-a-Highway programs. Sounds like it could be resolved by the courts if the Minutemen sue to remain on I-5.]

Minutemen exit I-5, get new road to adopt
By Richard Marosi
Los Angeles Times
January 30, 2008

SAN DIEGO — Caltrans has given the San Diego Minutemen a new stretch of road to clean up for the Adopt-A-Highway program, moving the group that fights illegal immigration from Interstate 5 near the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint to a quieter, less visible state highway.

Caltrans officials say the change was made because of safety concerns.

Last week, members of the state Latino Legislative caucus warned Caltrans that the signs indicating the San Diego Minutemen’s stretch of freeway on I-5 could draw protesters to the busy area near San Clemente.

Caltrans workers removed the signs from the northbound and southbound lanes Monday night. The group’s new two-mile stretch of highway is located along California 52 in eastern San Diego County near Santee.

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[KR: A few scholars on Latino politics sent out a link to this story suggesting that portions of the Latino vote may still be in play based on the drivers license issue. Gil Cedillo, a consistent sponsor of a drivers license measure in California, endorsed Obama in mid January, but it remains to be seen whether this one issue can sway Latino voters given the other advantages the Clintons have with Latino voters. It will be interesting to see if this issue gets brought up in the Los Angeles debate on Thursday, and how the candidates respond. Given Obama's bases of support, it is unlikely that a pro-license stance will hurt him with non-Latino primary voters, but perhaps time will tell.]

Obama takes big risk on driver’s license issue
Carolyn Lochhead, San Francisco Chronicle
Monday, January 28, 2008

Washington — Sen. Barack Obama easily won the African American vote in South Carolina, but to woo California Latinos, where he is running 3-to-1 behind rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, he is taking a giant risk: spotlighting his support for the red-hot issue of granting driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.

It’s a huge issue for Latinos, who want them. It’s also a huge issue for the general electorate, which most vehemently does not. Obama’s stand could come back to haunt him not only in a general election, but with other voters in California, where driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants helped undo former Gov. Gray Davis.

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[KR: Did immigration have anything to do with the NV Culinary Workers Union (Local 226 of UNITE HERE) endorse Obama? It would seem so, based on this posting back in November by Politico's Ben Smith, and this report on the Nevada debate where Obama said "yes" to drivers licenses and Clinton said "no". Now, as Smith reports, UNITE HERE is running a Spanish language ad decrying the lawsuit against the caucuses on the Strip as suppressing Latino votes. Dolores Huerta, however, is solidly in the Clinton camp, although her claim that she knows no Latino worker who supports Obama seems like a stretch. Will be very interesting to see how union members, Latino or otherwise, vote in the caucus.]

Ad: ‘Hillary Clinton does not respect our people’

Ben Smith, Politico
January 17, 2007

The radio ad aired by one of Obama’s labor allies re-injects ethnicity into the Democratic primary contest in sharp terms.

“Hillary Clinton does not respect our people,” the ad says in Spanish (original and Clinton campaign translation after the jump), referring to the lawsuit that failed today to shut down special caucus sites on Las Vegas’ strip. “Hillary Clinton is shameless.”

“Sen. Obama is defending our right to vote. Sen. Obama wants our votes. He respects our votes, our community, and our people. Sen. Obama’s campaign slogan is ‘Si Se Puede.’ Vote for a president who respects us, and who respects our right to vote,” the ad says, according to a transcript provided by the Clinton campaign and confirmed in part by a union official.

On a conference call arranged by the Clinton campaign, two of her supporters denounced the spot and demanded that Obama distance himself from it. They also said the Clinton campaign had no involvement in the lawsuit, which was filed by Clinton supporters and defended by Bill Clinton.

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[KR: On the immigration issue, Huckabee has been fairly moderate in his policies as governor, and even defended such policies in earlier primary debates. Perhaps after sensing how strongly many GOP voters feel about it, even such "straight-talking" "compassionate conservatives" recognize the need to follow the votes. Hence the courting of the Minuteman Project.]

Huckabee vows to defy birthright citizenship
January 8, 2008
By Stephen Dinan, Washington Times

Mike Huckabee wants to amend the Constitution to prevent children born in the U.S. to illegal aliens from automatically becoming American citizens, according to his top immigration surrogate — a radical step no other major presidential candidate has embraced.

Mr. Huckabee, who won last week’s Republican Iowa caucuses, promised Minuteman Project founder James Gilchrist that he would force a test case to the Supreme Court to challenge birthright citizenship, and would push Congress to pass a 28th Amendment to the Constitution to remove any doubt.

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[KR: Fareed Zakaria runs with Obama's assertion that spending formative years outside the United States helps with empathy in understanding the consequences of foreign policy. Perhaps other 1.5-gen immigrants in public policy would agree.]

The Power of Personality
When I talk to people in a foreign country, no matter how strange, they are always familiar to me.
By Fareed Zakaria, NEWSWEEK
Dec 15, 2007

I never thought I’d be in this position. There’s a debate taking place about what matters most when making judgments about foreign policy— experience and expertise on the one hand, or personal identity on the other. And I find myself coming down on the side of identity.

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[KR: Interesting Reuters story about how the immigration issue is playing out differently in churches, sometimes even within the same church. Janelle Wong (USC) has been looking at similar issues with fieldwork in Los Angeles and elsewhere that examines how issues such as immigration and abortion play out in immigrant evangelical churches.]

Help for immigrants divides congregations

By Andrea Hopkins
Tue Dec 25, REUTERS

He doesn’t speak Spanish and has no idea what America should do about illegal immigration, but Rev. Larry Kreps knows he’s now on a list somewhere of people willing to help illegal immigrants in a time of crisis.

It started out small enough. Months ago, a member of Kreps’ suburban Ohio congregation was looking for a place where local Hispanics could meet, and Kreps offered some space at John Wesley United Methodist Church. A Sunday school lesson on immigration followed in August.

Days later, with just a phone call for warning, dozens of desperate immigrants fleeing a massive raid on a nearby poultry plant turned up on the church’s doorstep, seeking sanctuary.

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[KR: In the case of immigrants and transnationalism, the work of consulates is typically treated as from "above" and the activism of residents as from "below." This story complicates the framework, of an individual consul who innovated beyond what the Mexican government may have envisioned.]

Outcry over consul’s removal in Santa Ana
Community leaders say Luis Miguel Ortiz Haro can’t be replaced and plan to protest. The Mexican government asserts that it’s a routine change.
By Jennifer Delson
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

December 14, 2007

The Mexican government has announced that it will remove Consul Luis Miguel Ortiz Haro from Santa Ana, provoking ire among community leaders who view him as an outspoken and unbending advocate for immigrants in Orange County.

Community leaders are collecting signatures to petition for his reinstatement and planning a trip to Mexico City to speak with government officials. They are also planning to protest when Mexico President Felipe Calderon visits Los Angeles next month.

Some residents in this largely Latino city say they have found in Ortiz Haro the sort of fiery leader the town has lacked in recent years.

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