Bloomberg
By Sahil Kapur
May 7, 2015
The 2016 battle lines are quickly forming on immigration.
South
Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who is exploring a run for the
Republican nomination, ripped into Democratic front-runner Hillary
Clinton's proposal to expand President
Barack Obama's executive actions to additionally offer deportation
relief to undocumented parents of young people brought to the U.S.
illegally, who have been granted "deferred action" protections.
"She's
shown no leadership on this issue. She's been a follower. I think it's
just political pandering," Graham said. "No American should want the
executive branch to
do something this monumental by themselves."
“I think what she's doing is divisive. She is driving the wedge deeper.”
Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina
"Clear to me," he said, "this is a sign of her weakness."
Graham
argued that he would have the most credibility of any presidential
candidate to push through a permanent legislative solution on
immigration. "I think I could sit
down with Democrats, who've known I've taken a beating to try to get a
fair compromise," he said, referring to his co-authorship of a sweeping
immigration reform bill that passed the Senate with bipartisan support
in 2013 and died in the House. "And I think
I could convince my party that now's the time to get this behind us."
He
brushed off a question about whether Clinton's endorsement of the
idea—which Hispanics and immigrant-rights groups strongly support—poses a
problem for Republicans
in the 2016 election. "I think what Hispanics want is a fix to the
problem," he said. "What she's doing is ensuring a third wave of illegal
immigration. I think there'll be a backlash in this country."
While
some Republican hopefuls such as Jeb Bush and Florida Senator Marco
Rubio have not commented silent on Clinton's new proposal, Wisconsin
Governor Scott Walker criticized
it as a "full embrace of amnesty" that is "unfair to hardworking
Americans and all immigrants who followed the law."
The Clinton campaign has suggested it will make immigration a major issue in the upcoming election.
Arizona
Senator John McCain—the party's 2008 nominee, who according to exit
polls lost badly among Hispanics—pointed out that a federal judge has
halted the "unconstitutional"
executive actions that Clinton is offering to expand.
"I
think it's very obvious that she's trying to reach out to the Hispanic
vote, and get the kind of support that Obama got in the last election.
It's clearly a political
ploy," he said. "A naked political ploy."
Will it work?
"We Republicans have to give Hispanics reasons to vote for us," McCain said.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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