It is clear that the debate that is taking place in Washington D.C. on the illegal immigration issue is going to be a major issue for the 2006 elections at every level. This means that every candidate for office, whether running for U.S. Senate or Congress, Governor or State Schools Superintendent, Supervisor or Sheriff, state legislature or school board is going to have to figure out how to address this issue.
The biggest challenge, of course, is on federal officeholders and candidates for U.S. Senate and Congress, as this is primarily seen as a national issue that should be dealt with by the federal government. To a certain extent, that is right. But the ‘trickle-down’ effect to every level of government of the impact of the United States’ failure to protect/control its borders, and the physical presence of well over ten-million people that have come into this country without permission has an impact for everyone, and for every political jurisdiction.
The lead story in today’s FlashReport is a piece penned by Timm Herdt in today’s Ventura County Star that really starts to look at the impact of this issue on California races. Look for more analysis as feelings on this issue continue to intensify.
Look for more unanimity on tight and strict border controls, but a lot of division about how to deal with the millions of illegal aliens that are living in California. The main conflict on this issue will be between those who see this as dealing with a ‘rule of law’ who see amnesty as a rewarding of illegal behavior versus those who see, for the most part, the presence of these folks as benign — and any effort to deport them as divisive.
The failure yesterday of the United States Senate yesterday to pass out a bill addressing this issue is a statement for how hard it will be to achieve consensus on this topic. The House of Representatives has already passed out a hard-line version of immigration reform, that does not support a guest worker (code word for amnesty) program. The Senate was looking at a package that would have granted amnesty to some, but not all.
We’ll keep watching this issue to see how it develops…
Gotta run!
Jon
P.S. My dad’s favorite columnist, Charles Krauthammer, says we should have iron-clad border security and then grant amnesty. I don’t agree, but I’ll score big points with Dad if I link to CK’s column.
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