USA Today
By Alan Gomez
February 11, 2015
In
its first month in power, the new Republican majority in Congress has
created a challenge for a group of people critical to the party's
success in the 2016 elections:
GOP operatives in charge of attracting Hispanic voters.
Party
leaders have been trying to get members to soften their harsh tone on
undocumented immigrants and engage in a more nuanced conversation with
Hispanic on issues like
the economy, health care and education.
But
since taking over both chambers in January, congressional leaders have
elevated some of its most outspoken critics of immigration to positions
of power; repeatedly
tried to shut down President Obama's plan to protect up to 4 million
undocumented immigrants from deportation; and introduced bills focused
mostly on border security.
"It
makes our job very difficult," said Alfonso Aguilar, executive director
of the conservative American Principles Project's Latino Partnership.
"We're swimming against
the current."
For
many Republican Party leaders, the 2012 election served as a wake-up
call to adjust its approach to the growing Hispanic electorate. Mitt
Romney endorsed a policy
of "self-deportation" for undocumented immigrants and that led to him
receiving just 27% of the Hispanic vote.
The
Republican National Committee's post-election autopsy report concluded
that the party needed to improve its policies and its tone when dealing
with immigration legislation
and Hispanics in general.
In
prior elections, Hispanic outreach efforts geared up a few months
before Election Day, but then shut down immediately afterward. Following
the 2014 midterm elections,
the Republican National Committee maintained about 40 staff members
dedicated to Hispanic outreach. The LIBRE Initiative, a group that
advocates for conservative principles, did voter outreach in seven
Hispanic-heavy states in 2014 and is using about 50 staff
members to expand to two more states this year.
"We're
in a better position than I've ever seen," said Jennifer Korn, national
field director for Hispanic initiatives at the RNC. "This year allows
us to really go into
a community and not just pitch a candidate, but gives us time to talk
to voters about specific issues. It lets us get to know the community in
a more intimate way."
But
while Korn and other GOP operatives are trying to explain their
conservative ideals to Hispanic voters and connect with them on areas
like the economy, Republican
leaders in Congress have been going in a different direction.
When
Republicans assumed control of the Senate last month, its leadership
appointed Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. — one of the most outspoken critics
of undocumented immigrants
and any bill that would grant them legal status — to head its
immigration subcommittee. In the House, the immigration subcommittee
includes Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, who once said undocumented immigrants
had calves the size of cantaloupes because of all the
drugs they were hauling from Mexico.
"Steve
King may not be the best person to do our Hispanic outreach," said
Sarah Isgur Flores, a long-time Republican campaigner who has worked for
Romney, Sen. Ted Cruz,
R-Texas, and is now working for Carly Fiorina's super PAC as she
explores a presidential run. "Steve King's policies aren't vastly
different from many Republicans, including some Hispanics. But tone does
matter."
The
House passed a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security
that would block Obama's action to protect up to 4 million undocumented
immigrants from deportation
and to rescind protections his administration has already given to more
than 600,000 young undocumented immigrants. The Senate unsuccessfully
tried three times last week to pass that bill, which needs to be
completed before funding for the department runs
out at the end of the month.
On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said it is up to the House to create a bill the Senate can pass.
The
main immigration bill proposed so far by Republicans is one sponsored
by Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, to add $10 billion in manpower and
equipment to lock down the
southwest border with Mexico.
"Republicans
better offer up solutions other than just border security," said Daniel
Garza, LIBRE's executive director. "The Latino electorate, and all
Americans, expect
that. We're not seeing it, and we better see it."
Jose
Mallea, the Miami-based national strategic director for LIBRE, said
their day-to-day conversations with Hispanics will grow increasingly
uncomfortable if Republicans
in Congress don't propose a comprehensive immigration bill that tackles
all the problems with the country's immigration system, including a
solution for the nation's 12 million undocumented immigrants.
"It's
very frustrating for us to not be able to give them a definitive answer
on that," Mallea said. "We would love to be able to say, 'We think it's
going to happen.'
Clearly at some point, people will grow frustrated if nothing happens."
Some
in the party say Congress will fall to the background as the
presidential race comes into sharper focus. With potential candidates
like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush,
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Wisconsin Gov.
Scott Walker all delivering a softer approach to immigration, GOP
officials feel voters will turn their attention to them as the election
draws closer.
"It's
going to be a tough conversation to have. But I don't think Congress
will dictate the fate of what happens when it comes to attracting new
Hispanic voters," said
Izzy Santa, a former RNC director of Hispanic media. "When people think
of 2016, they think of the candidate."
As
Congress continues focusing on ways to crack down on illegal
immigration, others in the party aren't so optimistic that Hispanics
will be able to look the other way.
"Hispanic
media tends to be immigration-centric," Aguilar said. "That's what they
see every day. And right now, the narrative is very simple — Democrats
are good, Republican
are bad.
"How do you beat that?
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