How Republicans React to Immigration Reform
Following the election of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States of America, the Republicans were tasked with the responsibility of winning back the American people. One of the factors they attempted to gain support from was over new immigration policies. Latino voters especially were a target of tries to put a new face on the Grand Old Party, as the concepts of immigration and naturalization continue to be such hot topics.
Whereas President Bush famously campaigned for measures of immigration and naturalization for illegal aliens, most "hardline" Republicans and conservatives are not as enthralled by an amnesty or guest worker program. On the contrary, many Republicans advocate tougher fines and sentences for employers who make use of illegal immigrant labor and oppose affording undocumented aliens the same rights to immigration and naturalization as legal entrants to the country. The politics of immigration are such that a significant number of Republicans are opposed to amnesty altogether, under the assumption this only encourages circumventing American law.
Republicans were notorious in some circles in their insistence of collecting large amounts of personal data via the Patriot Act. Those anti-immigration legislators have been met with similar criticism for their insistence on more frequent and stringent identity checks regarding all immigrants. Some see Republicans' stresses on the adoption of a federal ID system replete with biometrics information misguided, and worse, unduly invasive and inefficient.
Immigration and naturalization are two processes that involve delineated steps to permanent residency in the United States, or in the failure to grant individuals such status, definite procedures for an appeal of that denial. However, real-world practice has shown that, in some cases, deportation has not even been subject to a court hearing, and instead, the accused have been automatically removed from the United States, something of which more conservative Republicans have tended to approve. The politics of immigration, meanwhile, have dictated some adjusting on this issue, and some Republicans have revised their stances to curry favor with minorities.
While some Republicans are not explicitly anti-immigration, they still only may champion immigration for certain classes of immigrants. In light of recent economic struggles, these politics of immigration make the most sense; generally, Republicans have shown support primarily for family members and highly skilled immigrants, as opposed to unskilled laborers and others who would collect welfare.
NEXT: How Democrats React to Immigration Reform
