Rep. Labrador: Bad Immigration Bill Could Be ‘The Death’ of the GOP
also feels that any path to citzenship is amnesty.
Passing a bad immigration reform bill could politically damage the GOP, one prominent Hispanic Republican said Sunday morning.
“If we don’t do it right, politically it’s going to be the death of the Republican Party,” Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho), a leading GOP voice on immigration reform, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Labrador was asked to respond to claims from GOP proponents of immigration reform that failing to pass a bill would cost the party the support of Hispanic voters.
Labrador warned that the GOP could lose its base by backing a bill that failed to secure the border.
“If we do it right I think it’s going to be good for us,” Labrador said on Meet the Press. “But if we don’t do it right what’s going to happen is we’re going to lose our base because we’re still going to have a large number of illegal immigrants coming into the United States, and the Hispanic community is not going to listen to us because they’re going to always listen at this point to the people that are offering more, that are offering a faster pathway to citizenship.
“I think we lose on both grounds if we don’t do it right,” Labrador said.
More: Rep. Labrador: Bad Immigration Bill Could Be ‘The Death’ of the GOP - the Hill’s Ballot Box
The polling data should serve as a warning for those Republican Senators on the fence about voting for S.744.
A new National Journal poll found that 49 percent of GOP voters say they will less likely support their incumbent lawmaker if he or she votes for a pathway to citizenship for illegal aliens.
A sizeable portion, 35%, of Independents would not support an incumbent who backed amnesty.
The National Journal analysis of their polling data says that Republicans who vote for the amnesty bill are unlikely to find much general-election reward for their vote if they survive a primary.
So, I think that the Headline should really be “Immigration is the Death of the Republican Party”. Why? Republican Congressman Labrador - the House Republicans can’t pass reasonable legislation or they will lose their base and in the short term and Rebuplican House members will loose primaries in 2014. And if they don’t address it they are toast with Hispanics in the long run.