Immigration: The Surprisingly Toxic Debate for Obama

Wall Street Journal

By Laura Meckler

September 8, 2014

Immigration: The Surprisingly Toxic Debate for Obama 

It seems hard to remember, but not that long ago, immigration was seen as a top candidate for bipartisan cooperation. In reality, it has proven far more politically toxic than most anyone predicted.

That’s true for Republicans, but also for Democrats.

In Congress, the Senate passed a bipartisan bill, only to see it killed by House Republicans. That outcome stands in sharp contrast to supporters’ optimism less than two years ago, when a succession of high-profile Republicans joined business and evangelical Christian leaders, traditional GOP allies, in calling for an overhaul of the system.

Even more surprising is what happened this weekend. It was Democrats—not Republicans—who forced President Barack Obama to retreat from plans to take executive action to protect some of those living in the U.S. illegally from deportation. He said he would put off action to year’s end, after the fall elections, at the urging of fellow Democrats.

The White House worried the move would hurt Democratic candidates for Senate in conservative states Arkansas, North Carolina, Alaska, Kentucky and Louisiana. Already, they were under attack from their GOP opponents, who charged Democratic leniency on immigration was responsible for the recent surge in young illegal migrants from Central America crossing the Southwest border.

After a huge spike in May and June, the number of children crossing the border fell sharply in July and August. But politically, the damage was done.

Immigration advocates are furious, worried that this delay will give way to another at some future date. Still, they seem ready to forgive the snub if the president comes through with something “big.” That means protections from deportation for millions of undocumented immigrants.

“At this moment the stakes are higher and the expectations will be higher,” said Lorella Praeli of the activist group United We Dream. “The president has a lot of making up to do.”

The president had hoped that threatening executive action would push House Republicans to pass legislation, which he would prefer.

It actually pushed the GOP in the opposite direction. Republicans say his threats prove he cannot be trusted to faithfully enforce the law. In August, on a largely party-line vote, House Republicans passed legislation freezing an Obama program that gives safe harbor for some 700,000 young people who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children, known as Dreamers.

What a comedown. In 2012, Mr. Obama was running for re-election and trying to persuade voters that a second term wouldn’t represent a continuation of the partisan gridlock that had fallen over Washington. He repeatedly cited immigration as an area where he expected comity.

In an interview with the Des Moines Register, he bluntly predicted that Republicans would learn their lesson after he beat them and cooperate to pass an immigration overhaul.

“Should I win a second term, a big reason … is because the Republican nominee and the Republican Party have so alienated the fastest-growing demographic group in the country, the Latino community,” he said in remarks that were intended to be off the record but were later released publicly.

In the days after the election, those remarks seemed to be prescient. Leading Republicans including House Speaker John Boehner suggested that their party embrace a comprehensive immigration overhaul.

“This issue has been around far too long,” Mr. Boehner said in an interview in November 2012. “A comprehensive approach is long overdue, and I’m confident that the president, myself, others can find the common ground to take care of this issue once and for all.”

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