Politico (Article by Seung Min Kim and Manu Raju): Republicans are bobbing, ducking and weaving around President Barack Obamas move to allow hundreds of thousands of young illegal immigrants to stay in the country, fearing a lose-lose proposition no matter how they weigh in on the policy shift.
While most Republicans criticized Obama for circumventing Congress, they are far more circumspect about the plans merits or their preferred method of dealing with the 800,000 young illegals who will be affected by the order.
The GOP fear boils down to this: If they back the plan, it would infuriate the right flank of their party, which considers the policy nothing short of amnesty for lawbreakers. But if they attack it, it could turn off scores of Latino voters who are poised to play a huge role in crucial battleground states this November.
So the Republican response? Say very little.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said the GOP would follow the direction of Mitt Romney, who in turn has called on Congress to deal with the matter without laying out specifics himself. Arizona Sen. John McCain said Republicans are ready to embrace a proposal under development by Sen. Marco Rubio, but the Florida freshman now plans to shelve the proposal until after the election.
And theres been virtual silence on the Senate floor from Republicans who have shied away from talking about the matter publicly.
Texas Sen. John Cornyn the ranking member on a key immigration subcommittee and head of the powerful National Republican Senatorial Committee was asked if the GOP needed its own policy proposal on the matter this election year.
We were working on that, and the president basically undercut it by trying to do this unilaterally, something he said a year ago he couldnt do, Cornyn told POLITICO. This isnt going to get implemented in the next 140 days before the election.
The most important thing we can do is to get America back to work.
Republicans are in virtual agreement on that. The election, they believe, will turn on Obamas stewardship of the economy, something they think will resonate with Latinos also frustrated with the presidents failure to deliver on comprehensive immigration reform.
But theres far less unanimity among Republicans on how to deal with the emotional issue of children of illegals brought to the U.S. through no fault of their own.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday after a party lunch, McConnell refused several times to weigh in on the substance of the change, instead deferring to the partys presumptive presidential nominee to address it at the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials convention Thursday in Orlando, Fla.
I think most of my members are interested in learning what Gov. Romney has to say about this issue, and were going to withhold judgment most of us until that time, McConnell said.
Romney who along with Obama will speak at the three-day convention repeatedly declined to answer on CBSs Face the Nation Sunday whether he as president would make the same policy change as Obama did. Instead Romney criticized the process by which Obama enacted the move.
McConnell declined to answer what should happen to young children and adults who are in the country illegally and would qualify under the new policy. He also deflected questions about whether the new policy constitutes amnesty, as immigration hard-liners charge.
If it leads to citizenship as a reward for some kind of illegal entry, that could be argued, McConnell said on amnesty. But I think were going to wait and see what Gov. Romney has to say and then our members are going to be discussing his views on this and I think many of them will have similar views, others may not.
But like other top GOP officials, the Kentucky Republican criticized Obama over his process.
What I can say for sure is, the president said a year ago he didnt believe he had the authority to do what he announces he was going to do last week. And I dont think thats an irrelevant thing to discuss, McConnell said. I mean, did he have the authority to do what he did?
Twenty Republican senators, including McConnell, released a letter sent to Obama Tuesday demanding a detailed response from the White House on its authority to issue such a broad move. But the missive stopped short of picking apart the policy itself.
In the House, Speaker John Boehner said the immigration move puts everyone in a difficult position and accused the president of trying to shift the debate away from his stewardship of the economy.
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), No. 3 in the Senate GOP leadership, called Obamas move politically motivated but acknowledged that hell probably stand to benefit politically from doing that.
Asked about the GOP approach, Thune said he preferred a broader solution, something he believed Romney was in the process of formulating. Like other Republicans, Thune said the president undermined the Rubio effort.
Rubio announced Monday he would likely punt the matter until after the election, since the presidents move sapped the legislative momentum out of his push a decision that appears to have caught many Republicans flat-footed.
McCain, the 2008 presidential nominee, said Republicans should talk about the matter as an issue of compassion and concern.
Asked if the GOP needed a legislative proposal to show voters, McCain said: Well, Marco Rubio had one that obviously was nearing completion.
Informed that Rubio appeared likely to drop the effort now, McCain said: Well, I dont know what his decision is but I know hes close to completing one.
There were many similarities between Obamas and Rubios plans.
Rubios plan would have legalized undocumented children brought to the United States at an early age provided they have no criminal record and have completed high school. It would grant them non-immigrant visas and allow them to stay in the country and access the existing immigration system, through which they could eventually become green card holders or naturalized citizens.
Similarly, Obamas executive action said that those who entered the United States before the age of 16, are younger than 30 and pose no security threat, served in the military and completed minimum levels of education can get a two-year deferral from deportation and apply for work permits.
The Democrats DREAM Act which Obama supports and Romney promised to veto during the primary campaign would provide a direct pathway to citizenship by providing green cards to children seeking higher education or military service of at least two years.
At least one Republican praised Obamas decision: Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.), whose support for the DREAM Act became a political liability in his losing primary bid.
The executive action is controversial, Lugar said, but nevertheless, on balance, it seems to me that it was a constructive move.
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