Wall Street Journal
By Laura Meckler and Reid J. Epstein
January 23, 2015
The
2016 presidential race is in its infancy, but the immigration politics
that are sure to ripple through the contest will be display this
weekend, when at least eight
Republicans considering presidential campaigns appear at an event
sponsored by GOP Rep. Steve King, one of the loudest anti-immigration
voices in Washington.
Saturday’s
event in Des Moines, the Iowa Freedom Summit, is attracting the
attention of both Republicans — as the unofficial kickoff to the
nation’s first nominating contest
— and of Democrats, who say they will be listening for any signs of
pandering to anti-immigration forces within the party.
Taking
a hard line against illegal immigration, and even new legal
immigration, is a winning position among many Republican primary voters,
but can come back to a haunt
the winner who advances to the general election. Just ask Mitt Romney.
At an event with Mr. King in 2011, he said that if he were president,
he’d veto the Dream Act, legislation that would give young people
brought to the U.S. as children legal status and
a path to citizenship. Later, he said those in the U.S. illegally
should be encouraged to “self-deport” back to their home countries.
That
hard line was problematic in the general election, where Hispanics make
up sizable portions of swing states including Florida, Nevada and
Colorado — all of which
he lost. He won a whopping 72% of the white vote, but took just 27% of
Hispanic en route to a rout.
That’s
not to say that every Republican in attendance will endorse Mr. King’s
positions or echo his sometimes inflammatory rhetoric. (Just this week,
for instance, he
referred to a young undocumented immigrant who sat with First Lady
Michelle Obama at the State of the Union as a “deportable.” He also once
suggested that there were far more drug mules than valedictorians among
the young illegal immigrant population.) But
the fact that so many potential candidates are appearing underscores
the pressures they face to take a hard line on immigration.
Two
of the most centrist Republicans on the immigration issue are skipping
the event. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio, also of
Florida, have both endorsed
a path to citizenship for undocumented residents, are both looking at
running for president but are both viewed skeptically by some
conservatives on this issue.
Immigration
advocates are doing what they can to draw attention to the entire
matter. Young illegal immigrants, who call themselves Dreamers after the
legislation, plan
to confront candidates this weekend. Advocates placed an ad in the Des
Moines Register highlighting support for a path to citizenship for
people in the U.S. illegally. American Bridge 21st Century, a liberal
group, will be there to record everything said by
speakers.
“Their
desperate attempts to endear themselves to the conservative base will
not come without consequences, namely because general election voters
also happen to have
eyes and ears,” the group said in a statement.
Iowa
Gov. Terry Branstad, who is also speaking at Mr. King’s Saturday Iowa
Freedom Summit, said the transitive property of politics won’t apply to
the would-be presidential
candidates who appear.
“I
agree with Steve King on some things and I don’t agree with him on some
things,” Mr. Branstad said Thursday during an interview in office at
the Iowa State Capitol.
“But I want to be a good host and I want to welcome people to the
state.”
Mr. Branstad declined to address Mr. King’s rhetoric but said Iowa Republicans agree with the congressman on substance.
“It’s
a complex issue and most Iowans want to welcome people who come here
legally,” Mr. Branstad said. “They also agree that this administration
has failed to secure
our borders and they feel that some of the extraordinary actions the
president has taken which are of questionable constitutionality are the
right way to go.”
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