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GOP: The Party of Mass Deportation

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America’s Voice Education Fund released a report today breaking the GOP code on immigration. The PR-friendly phrase “attrition through enforcement” popularly used by the House Immigration Subcommittee is actually a euphemism for mass deportation. In fact, America’s Voice’s new report documents that the GOP strategy is aimed at forcing 11 million undocumented immigrants out of the country, despite the cost to American taxpayers, the U.S. agriculture industry, and our country’s reputation. 

Not so much of the red-white-and-blue folk they claim to be, eh?

On a press call today, Mark Potok, Director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center; Fernand Amandi, Managing Partner of Bendixen & Amandi International; and Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice addressed the House Republican strategy of deporting 11 million immigrants – and the enormous risks that stem from it. Not only is this strategy certain to damage the GOP’s political prospects, it will destroy the U.S. economy and the state of race relations, especially in communities that are bitterly divided by immigration debates. 

Speaking to the last point, Mark Potok was vocal in blaming the anti-immigrant movement in using Congress to advance their radical agenda:

This movement, organized by the controversial John Tanton and spearheaded by groups such as FAIR, Center for Immigration Studies and Numbers USA, are today’s Know Nothings.  They want local, state and federal measures that expel immigrants here and stop immigrants from coming in the future.  Their radicalism causes huge upheaval in local communities that take their recommendations to heart, and are exacerbating racial tensions across the country.”

Unfortunately for the GOP, Latinos are not so easily fooled.  In the latest impreMedia and Latino Decisions polling, 47% of Latino voters rank immigration as their top issue, and only 9% said they will vote for Obama’s Republican challenger in 2012 (8% said ‘maybe’). 

That should elicit an “Ouch” from Republicans, considering Latinos are the fastest growing voting demographic.