The New York Times has an insightful piece on the cost of doing nothing on immigration reform to the Republican Party. According to the article:
“If we don’t pass immigration reform this year, we will not win the White House back in 2016, 2020 or 2024,” John Feehery, once a top aide to former Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, wrote recently. Even if that prediction proves hyperbolic, recent history gives Republicans ample reason to take the danger seriously. Democrats have long wooed racial and ethnic minorities more vigorously than the Republicans have. Their presidential candidates have won a majority of black and Hispanic votes in every election since exit polls began.
President Obama renewed his courtship this week with a town hall-style meeting on Spanish-language television in which he promoted the health care law and urged the Republican-controlled House to act on immigration. Mr. Obama faced a challenge from one of the hosts about “tarnished” credibility over the failure to enact an immigration overhaul and the record number of deportations he has overseen — a sign that neither party can afford to take Hispanic voters for granted.
But it is Republicans’ performance with that fast-growing segment of the electorate that has declined sharply in the past two presidential races, amid tough talk about border security and opposition to “amnesty” from the party’s predominantly white, older, conservative base. By blocking Mr. Obama’s push for immigration legislation, the House would magnify the party’s political exposure.
