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The Spectacle Blog
Mitt Romney has been characteristically cautious in taking a stand on President Barack Obama’s DREAM decree, opposing the policy move while remaining coy about what he would do in its place. Romney continued to walk that tightrope today in a speech to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.
Romney vowed to “replace and supersede” the president’s policy — kind of like “repeal and replace” — with his own bipartisan, long-term immigration solution. His proposals include unspecified increases in legal immigration, more green cards for family reunification and immigrants who receive advanced degrees at American universities, a path to citizenship for immigrants who serve in the military, but no real word of amnesty for the vast majority of illegal immigrants. Romney told the group:
I will prioritize measures that strengthen legal immigration and make it more transparent and easier. And I will address the problem of illegal immigration in a civil and resolute manner. We may not always agree, but when I make a promise to you, I will keep it.
Romney also argued that Obama takes Latino votes for granted. All in all, Romney is staking out a position to the right of both George W. Bush and John McCain’s if not quite the same in tone as the attrition strategy he advocated during the primaries. But questions remain about what kind of legal immigration increases we’re going to be looking at if he wants to effectively admit more skilled immigrants and do more family reunification.
Also, in a reminder that immigration is not necessarily the magic bullet in solving the GOP’s outreach to Hispanic voters, the Los Angeles Times reports that the “only discordant note was a loud ‘boo’ when Romney’s call for the repeal of Obama’s healthcare law drew a smattering of applause.”
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More Blog Posts by W. James Antle, III
http://spectator.org/blog/2012/06/21/romney-attempts-immigration-tr
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Derek Leaberry| 6.21.12 @ 5:20PM
Reading the recent comments of Senator John McCain(Neurotic-Arizona) on the issue of immigration, I think I know how this is going to go down if Romney wins. Romney is going bipartisan with Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, McCain, Lindsey Graham, John Boehner and Marco Rubio in the mix for a big amnesty push in 2013. Bill Kristol will cheerlead with his Murdock neo-con rag, The Weekly Standard. Conservatives will be sold down the river.
For the sake of the ethnic core of the nation, the only way to prevent total demographic revolution is to have economic stagnation and recession last for two or three decades. If there are no jobs and fiscal austerity reigns, the Third World might not be so anxious to come into America. It is easier to be poor in Oaxaca than in Langley Park.
aware| 6.21.12 @ 7:04PM
Conservatives should be used to being screwed with a sandpaper condom by now. Conservatism isn't even going to be on the ballot but you wouldn't know it from all the lipstick being plastered on the pig around here.
Just think how many times Mitt is going to cut the ground from under them between now and November. It's possible that by then, he will have effectively destroyed the only real positive he has going for him, that he's not Barry.
Butch| 6.21.12 @ 5:24PM
I don't know whether he can hold this position throughout the campaign or not. Obama is desparate, and he will probably push this issue hard to smoke Romney out.
On another note, offering green cards to foreign students with advanced degrees in engineering, math, the hard sciences, computer science, and economics and business is a good idea. Those with advanced degrees in liberal arts, social sciences, grievance studies and such--not so much. They have not been educated so much as indoctrinated. We need those people like we need a boil on our collective posteriors. The founder, head, and driving force behind our local hispanic grievance group is a sociology professor at our local university.
And--no offence to all you good and decent lawyers out there, we don't need any more of those, either. Says Law of Markets--roughly, supply creates its own demand--really IS true for them.
Chris (the second one)| 6.21.12 @ 5:38PM
STEM degree graduates already have high unemployment rates. Why is it a good idea to import more of them?
We need a moratorium on all immigration for about 20 years.
Shadow| 6.21.12 @ 5:55PM
First we should start with a moratorium on the fellowships they are given to finance those degrees and dole them out to deserving students of tax paying parents.
JD| 6.21.12 @ 9:12PM
Apples and oranges. There are areas where good people can't be found and areas where many are unemployed. Don't conflate tech support guys and high-quality engineers.
Chris (the second one)| 6.22.12 @ 8:59AM
JD, let's give you the point the we are missing HQ engineers (not that I agree since free enterprise means that HQ engineer wages then go up which encourages more people to go into the field). Wouldn't a better way of handling it be to have let's say 5,000 slots for foreigners for one year that companies have to bid for with the proceeds going for scholarships for Americans in the fields that the foreigners are filling?
Dai Alanye | 6.22.12 @ 11:53AM
I suspect some folks have the idea that bringing in high-IQ furriners will raise the average American IQ. Not in the long run, since regression to the mean applies to genetics. The only significant result of bringing in foreign technical talent is to depress the wage level in those fields affected.
Bob K| 6.22.12 @ 12:06AM
And make sure they qualify for "Affirmative Action" while pursuing these advanced degrees too, scientific or otherwise! Good old run of the mill American citizens still need to be handicapped like horses to bring a "fair" society about!
Right, Butch?
Actually the only markets that the people who advocate our open border policies are interested in concern workers in industries that need to keep wages down.
Butch| 6.22.12 @ 2:00AM
Well, Bob, its late, and I'm sleepy, and probably, nobody will see this. Maybe you will. I am scotch-irish southern myself, descendent from both a revolutionary war verteran and a confederate veteran, directly--documented. Fact is, we white people are not reproducing ourselves, and Americans will need people--especially skilled people--to survive and flourish. Like you, probably, I have kids.
I am a college professor. Most of those tech graduate students I mentioned are Indians and Asians. Both make OK Americans. Asians keep to themselves, work hard, and don't commit crimes. Indians are political, but they assimilate pretty well, and they speak good English. Look at Jindal. A lot of the students I was writing about are eastern European whites: they would make teriffic Americans, and they want to be, too, for all the right reasons. They're generally not criminals either.
I don't want our country to be any more third world than you do; I just have some knowledge of the kind of people who get those kinds of advanced degrees. If we won't reproduce ourselves, I would prefer that my children and grandchildren share this country with them than with near-illiterates from near-communist or tyrannical cultures.
No anti-"traditional" American culture intended. I am one of them. Sorry for the misunderstanding, I am not a liberal about America at all.
Butch
Bob K| 6.22.12 @ 9:34AM
Butch,
I have children too. One has a teaching fellowship in Physics.
These demographic problems affect western Europe more than the USA. It was brought about there by liberal, socialist government policies. They also have tried to solve it with immigration and it is causing problems.
Our problem is not as bad yet but it will be if we continue our slide into liberalism and socialism. Our economy is based on big government, big education, big health care and the big Banking and Investment industries. We won't be able to raise enough tax monies to keep the country going. States are going broke now.
So far the only way our political leaders have addressed the problem is through an incoherent immigration policy regarding Latin America which is based purely on party politics. Democrats want voters and Republicans want cheap labor. The people needed to satisfy both parties do not come from complex cultures like we find in Asia. Most of these Latinos are from indigenous cultures which have been exploited by whites from Europe's Iberian peninsula who settled amongst them generations ago.
I don't know what near-communist cultures you have in mind. Marx, Stalin and Mao would hardly recognize most of the old Communist countries now except North Korea or Cuba. The latter soon to change. We trade with these nations (except N. Korea and Cuba) as a matter of course now. Many jobs and much money have gone to China, Vietnam and tyrannies like Saudi Arabia.
Dai Alanye | 6.22.12 @ 11:59AM
Butch says, "...If we won't reproduce ourselves," using that as an excuse to promote wholesale immigration. It's a perfect example of treating the symptom rather than the disease, as well as an example of why we shouldn't let "college professors" dictate to us.
Chris (the second one)| 6.21.12 @ 5:39PM
Romney is screwing this up royally. He's going to discourage the white blue collar class and conservatives.
Red Phillips | 6.21.12 @ 6:05PM
WE DO NOT NEED MORE LEGAL IMMIGRATION! The problem with focusing on illegal immigration is that it makes it seem like immigration is simply a law and order issue. But conservatives ought to understand that immigration is not just a law and order issue. It is a change issue - you know that thing conservatives are supposed to resist in preference of conserving things. NOTHING is less fundamentally conservative than flooding your country with massive numbers of immigrants in a short period of time, which is what has been going on in this country since the 1965 immigration act. And NOTHING is more fundamentally conservative than opposing this cultural genocide.
JimH| 6.22.12 @ 8:33AM
Someone has to pay into Social Security to support all those baby boom geezers. People aren't making enough American babies.
Sean| 6.22.12 @ 9:57AM
And that is the problem. Governments everywhere are being run like it they are a poorly ran business. City, county, state and federal all want to expand their revenue and to break into different "markets." If you are a Ponzi scheme then you need more suckers.
Red Phillips | 6.21.12 @ 6:16PM
"if not quite the same in tone as the attrition strategy he advocated during the primaries."
I'm shocked. Flip-flop Mitt is already caving. Who would have guessed?
aware| 6.21.12 @ 7:07PM
This is going to be awful. Just awful.
Bob K| 6.22.12 @ 12:23AM
What is Romney going to tell the National Associations of [Black, Native American, Oriental, Andaman Islanders, White (oops!)-pick any or all] Elected and Appointed Officials? Not to mention the unappointed and unannointed peoples of those constituencies?
Or is he going to take all those fine people for granted? So far that is the impression he is giving to them.
Firozali A.Mulla DBA | 6.22.12 @ 1:04AM
The US weekly jobless report came in worse than expected. Initial claims were 387,000 versus the consensus 383,000. The prior month's report was also revised higher from 386,000 to 389,000. The four-week average is now at a six-month high. US existing home sales for May were disappointing, dropping 1.5%. The Philly Fed's monthly report was significantly worse than expected. Analysts were looking for 0.5 and instead the number came in at -16.6. Prior to the news, markets were flat and then began a steep dive. The S&P 500 finished the day down to 1325, a 2.2% loss. Crude futures plunged to their lowest level in eight months, breaking through $80 a barrel and settling at $78.10. The weekly natural gas supplies report saw a build of 62 billion cubic feet, below expectations of 66 BCF. Natural gas futures finished the day higher by over 2.5%. The consulting company Roland Berger released its report on the health of Spanish banks and how much capital banks would need in the case of the "adverse scenario" of home prices declining 55-60% and stocks declining 50% or more from their highs. The report found that Spanish banks would need 51 to 62 billion euros in additional capital, roughly in line with what prior estimates had shown. Regardless, markets reacted negatively to the news. I thank you Firozali A.Mulla DBA
Ken (Old Texican)| 6.22.12 @ 8:41AM
I believe Romney SHOULD be balanced in his approach to the issue. The "problem" has been around a long long time.
Bob K| 6.22.12 @ 9:47AM
Yes indeed Ken!
If by that mean like being balanced on a teeter totter.
If current immigration continues at a rate even half of what it is now the balance will change and so will Texas! From a strong conservative bastion of freedom and capitalist principles into a liberal, left leaning state like California!
Bob K| 6.22.12 @ 9:48AM
Make that "If by that YOU mean....... ."