This afternoon, the House Republican Caucus is gathering for a closed-door meeting to discuss how they plan to move forward with immigration reform. Some of the Republicans who will be present and outspoken are anti-immigrant hardliners–the Steve Kings, Lou Barlettas, and Dana Rohrabachers of the world. But some Republicans who will be there get it. Some of them understand the political, moral, and policy reasons why their party must support immigration reform. And recently, they’ve been from California.
Last week we wrote about Bakersfield Republican Rep. David Valadao (R-CA 21), who understands that “Immigration is something that does affect voters. If your first stance is, you are tough on immigrants and people who want to come to this country, you are telling them that you don’t want them here. It is just not a good way to start a conversation.”
Today Politico lifts up Central Valley Congressman Rep. Jeff Denham (R-CA 10), who says that the need for immigration reform comes up in “every phone call I make, every town hall. It’s a huge issue in my district.”
He continued:
I am concerned with the Republican Party from a national perspective. We have very diverse districts around the entire nation, and I think how we handle the overall immigration issue could have dramatic impacts to the future of the Republican Party. We need to message this right. It’s a personal issue for me. I’ve been working on it for years.
Denham and Valadao are both Republicans who voted against Steve King’s amendment to deport DREAMers last month, as did their colleague from California Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) and three others. The fact of their common home state could help explain their immigration-friendly stances: immigrant advocacy groups like the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) and others have done great work organizing and mobilizing around the issue. And, most California Republicans know the story of their party’s decimation in the Golden State after Republican Governor Pat Brown pushed an anti-immigrant initiative (Prop 187 in 1994) that turned one of the state’s largest demographics firmly against the GOP. Before 1994, Republicans were competitive in statewide elections like Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General. Since 1994, they have won none of those elections–except for the two terms of former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was hardly an average Republican, and in any case supported immigration reform. Republican ranks in the state house and in their Congressional delegation have also dwindled.
Denham and Valadao are good examples of the open-mindedness that exists in some wings of their Party. But we also need to hear from some of their other colleagues from California, like Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA 23, the House Majority Whip) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA 49). House members from outside California who live in competitive districts with large Latino populations also need to speak up, including Mike Coffman (R-CO), Joe Heck (R-NV), Doc Hastings (R-WA), Mike Grimm (R-NY) and Peter King (R-NY), among others. The Latino vote is watching, the future of the GOP is at stake, and there’s no better time for reform-friendly Republicans to make themselves heard than today.
