Changing attitudes towards undocumented immigration
Many people on the right are very suspicious towards undocumented people. In recent years, many Conservative leaders have taken very extreme stances towards the issue. But that might change soon.
Jed Bush, one of the potential 2016 Republican presidential candidates, had this to say. “But the way I look at this — and I’m going to say this, and it’ll be on tape and so be it. The way I look at this is someone who comes to our country because they couldn’t come legally, they come to our country because their families — the dad who loved their children — was worried that their children didn’t have food on the table. And they wanted to make sure their family was intact, and they crossed the border because they had no other means to work to be able to provide for their family. Yes, they broke the law, but it’s not a felony. It’s an act of love. It’s an act of commitment to your family. I honestly think that that is a different kind of crime that there should be a price paid, but it shouldn’t rile people up that people are actually coming to this country to provide for their families.”
As we know already, Senator Marco Rubio, another prominent Republican, lead a bipartison push for comprehensive reform last year. And know Jed Bush seems to be taking a much more moderate stance. Could this be a sign of the Republican Party shifting away from the far Right?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/04/06/jeb-bush-many-illegal-immigrants-come-out-of-an-act-of-love/
To complicate the picture a bit. Re: Rubio
http://colorlines.com/archives/2013/02/marco_rubios_impossible_task.html
Specifically in the case of Jed Bush, perhaps the influence of his family (his brother, as we discussed in class, has always been more pro-immigrant) and geographic location have impacted his endorsement of immigration reform. Putting this together with the stagnant portrayal of the Far Right’s evolution on this issue, it makes sense that this is an isolated act of moderation and not an overall move to the center.
It’s possible that Republican attitudes towards immigration might be changing, as there are a few examples of that occurring (the article also mentions Rick Perry), but it would take a lot more to shift the stance of the entire party. I think these individuals are just anomalies in the big picture, but in the long run, maybe it’ll create a change.
Its just very hard for me to see immigration and immigration reform as a partisan issue, especially given the fact that its only been split so recently.