WASHINGTON –With the House majority expected to meet on July 10 to discuss the Senate-passed immigration bill, Texas Republicans have made it clear that they won’t go along with a plan offering a path to legal status.
Most of the Texans disapprove of granting amnesty to immigrants who are in the country illegally, arguing that it would be unconstitutional.
“The Senate bill does nothing to fix our country’s daunting immigration problems,” posted Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas, on his website. “It will likely make things worse.”
Rep. Joe Barton tweeted,
Immigrants in the country illegally would be able to have “Registered Provisional Immigrant Status” under the Senate bill, which would allow them to work and travel freely.
That is not quite amnesty. Those who register would have to pay a fine and also back taxes. But Republicans still think it would allow some who arrived here illegally to jump the line past others who came into the country through legal channels.
“I have zero tolerance for those who break the rules and demand special treatment,” said Texas Republican Sam Johnson, on his website.
If anything, the lawmakers want tighter security of the southern border — beyond the higher fences, more officers and improved technology promised in the Senate bill. Border security should be tightened, they argue, before applications for legal status happen.
But in a state where 38 percent of residents identify as Latino, according to the 2012 Census, the Texas Republicans’ opposition to granting amnesty — and to the Senate bill as a whole — may eventually help Democrats gain political leverage in this Republican-leaning state.
The 2012 presidential election was proof of Latino’s support of the Democratic Party at the national level. Obama gained 71 percent of the Hispanic vote nationwide.
Exit polls from the 2012 election reported that 77 percent of Hispanic voters believed immigrants without documents should have the ability to apply for legal status. That’s an issue that congressional Republicans have formed a a consensus on, causing a rift between the Senate and the House.
In the June 27 Senate roll call, only 14 of 46 Republicans voted for the immigration bill. Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz both opposed it.
In an interview with Newsmax, one Texas lawmaker said he believed the Senate’s action on the immigration bill was part of a White House political strategy.
“I do believe that the president has a strategy. They would like to see this fail in the House so that they could possibly take the House [majority],” said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas.
AJune poll showed that 36 percent of Latinos would be more likely to consider voting Republican in the future if the leaders of the GOP worked hard to help get this immigration bill passed, according to America’s Voice, an organization advocating for immigration reform, and Latino Decisions, a political opinion research organization.
There are 4.2 million eligible Latino voters in Texas. If the immigration reform bill passes, even without Texas Republican support, that number will likely rise.