>>>I don't support immigration reform and I think we need to more aggressively secure our borders until we get this mess straightened out
>
>Keep saying that Kevin!
>Not only is that bad policy, but it's terrible politics and if the Tea Party keeps saying it long enough it will go the way of the Temperance Party in a hurry.
>
>Off all the misguided, whacky ideas that have come from the Fox/Rush Limbaugh/ Lou Dobbs crowd few can compare with the crazy notion that granting legal status to people who have lived her for decades and are a key part of our economy and culture is somehow threatening to the rest of us.
>
>Since the cold war ended and that crowd lost its favorite "enemy" they have been desperately seeking "the other guy" and have landed on this issue.
>
>Securing our borders against whom? Those vicious Canadians and Mexicans?
>Yeah! Let's get that wall higher!
>(OH.. but don't mess with NAFTA - we have to keep our borders open!!)

Hear, hear.

One thing I truly don't get is that this is such bad politics for the Republicans. Hispanic-Americans are the fastest growing group in the U.S. and the Repubs are actively driving them away. It makes no sense. In many ways they are a natural constituency -- conservative, religious, family values.

We are a nation of immigrants. It is the entire history of this country. And the same pattern is repeated over and over, with only the demographic changing -- "they'll never assimilate." This was said of Irish, Germans, Polish, on and on. The fact is they do assimilate, even if they retain pride in the country of their heritage. A very high percentage of second generation Hispanic-Americans speak English as a first language in the home.