DREAM Act Vote May Come Back To Haunt GOP

Linda Chavez, a long time conservative commentator has released a great editorial on the DREAM Act today.  Her piece The DREAM and The Nightmare is critical of Democrats for bringing up what she calls a purely political vote but she saves her most withering tongue lashing for the GOP:

Republicans may, nonetheless, be walking right into their trap. For all the loose talk of "amnesty" in the immigration debate, proposals to grant a path to legalization for adult immigrants who entered or remained in the United State illegally were never true amnesty. The Bush plan included hefty fines for all transgressors -- which, by definition, is not amnesty -- as well as requiring them to pay back taxes, undergo criminal checks, learn English, and go to the back of the citizenship line. As conservative blogger Jennifer Rubin notes, the definition of amnesty is to "exempt from punishment."

Chavez is especially critical of GOP Senators who would deny undocumented students the ability to contribute to society, tying the success of these young DREAMers to the future of Republican party:

Do Republicans really want to tell young people who've lived here most of their lives, who may speak no other language but English, and who are even willing to sacrifice themselves on the battlefield for the protection of all Americans: "We don't want you"? What are the alternatives -- let them continue to live in the shadows or deport them? Not even the most aggressively anti-immigration groups are calling for the latter. A number of Republicans who previously supported the legislation -- including one of its chief authors, Sen. Orrin Hatch -- have decided it is too risky to vote for it now. But the real risk is to the future of the Republican Party.

She also ties the rise of hard line anti-immigration stances of the GOP to their electoral losses in Senate races in 2010, as well as how it may affect them in 2012:

The refusal of all but a tiny handful of Republicans to vote for the Dream Act will become a future nightmare. Hard-line anti-illegal immigrant rhetoric has already cost Republicans at least two U.S. Senate seats, Nevada and Colorado, even in a GOP landslide election. It could well cost Republicans the White House in 2012 -- the Democrats are betting on it.

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