Leading editorial boards are weighing in strongly against the Republican response to President Obama’s sensible executive action on immigration. The nation’s largest Spanish language newspaper eviscerated Republicans’ anti-immigrant and anti-Latino obsession in a must-read editorial that should scare Republicans who care about making inroads with Latino voters in 2016. Meanwhile, a trio of leading English language editorials call out Republicans’ refusal to advance serious immigration reform legislation that could preempt the president’s executive action.
According to Lynn Tramonte, Deputy Director of America’s Voice,
Every time Republicans in Congress use their bully pulpit to attack immigrants and fair immigration policies, they send a clear message to Latino, APIA, and immigrant voters as well as the rest of America. They prove that they are the ‘Get Out’ Party—unwilling to govern responsibly, and unable to offer reasonable ideas to address today’s challenges. Americans aren’t interested in ’show votes’; they want solutions. As long as the GOP continues to play political games and block progress, they’ll be on the wrong side of this issue.
La Opinión: The nation’s largest Spanish language daily newspaper blasts the House Republicans’ response to immigration executive action, writing in an editorial titled, “A Vote for Hate”:
The recent House of Representatives vote declaring president Obama’s executive order on immigration unconstitutional was an empty political gesture that merely serves as an expression of discord, since it has no chance of achieving anything meaningful.
This gesture is a waste of time, but in the Latino community it has a very specific meaning. It shows the will of the Republican majority to expose to deportation and labor abuse millions of people protected by the White House
For these legislators, the executive order is reprehensible not only because it comes from Barack Obama. Also because it helps the undocumented – which for them are only worthy of punishment – and it benefits millions, a chilling figure for those who ludicrously fear an invasion from the south.
…Deportation, family separation and immigrant suffering is the only consistent immigration policy of the Republican majority.
Los Angeles Times: In an editorial titled, “Empty threats vs. real immigration reform,” the paper calls out Republicans’ refusal to advance serious legislative alternatives to executive action, writing:
House Republicans once again find themselves choosing whether to govern or to make a point. Last year they embarked on a destined-to-fail effort to ‘defund Obamacare,’ leading to a 16-day government shutdown. Now, some Republicans want to ‘defund amnesty,’ a reference to President Obama’s move to rule out deportation for more than 4 million people who are in the country illegally. Rather than make empty threats with appropriations bills, Republicans should take up Obama’s challenge to develop a coherent, comprehensive overhaul of the country’s badly flawed immigration laws.
…This situation should feel distressingly familiar to Republicans. The public isn’t likely to respond well to shutting down the Department of Homeland Security any more than it did to the idea of shutting down the rest of the federal government. Besides, for all of the rhetoric inside the Beltway about Obama overstepping his authority, this dispute really boils down to whether the president can tell some of the millions of people the government doesn’t have the resources to deport that they can, temporarily, hold a job legally in the United States. Considering the internal politics of the House, Boehner’s approach may be the best way to protect the country from another federal shutdown. Ultimately, though, Republicans can’t fix immigration policy by taking agencies hostage. They have to legislate.
Sacramento Bee: The paper recaps that Republicans are once again refusing to seize the opportunity to advance a permanent legislative fix in favor of “the low road”:
Republicans have griped that Obama should have worked with Congress on reform and not gone over their heads.
Texas Republican Michael McCaul said Tuesday at a congressional hearing on Obama’s plan, as quoted in USA Today: ‘We need to reform our immigration laws, but we need to do it the right way.’
…Apparently, doing it ‘the right way’ is too hard. The only immigration-related bill the House was interested in voting on last week was a toothless bill that stops Obama’s immigration initiatives only in its dreams.
Too bad. Republicans had a chance to take the high road on this and – finally – stake out a real position on immigration reform rather just standing in opposition. Instead, they chose to take the low road, yelling and kicking all the way down.
Newsday (NY): In an editorial titled, “A federal shutdown won’t solve immigration mess,” Newsday calls the Republican response plan to executive action, “a ridiculous way to do the nation’s business” and writes:
Voters entrusted Republicans with majorities in the Senate and the House of Representatives. If the GOP wants to counter Obama on immigration, it should pass reform legislation.
The GOP needs to reject farce and accept responsibility to govern.
