Cleaning the GOP Garage

by Melissa Flores

The garage is the last place on earth you want to clean. Let’s be honest. Most of us neglect garage-duty, not necessarily because of laziness but due to the uncertainty of not knowing how to bring order to the agglomeration that collects there. These days, garages are equally about vehicles and storage for sundry household items that have no permanent place inside your living space. Hence every garage has at least a few if not umpteen items that defy organization.

After the elections, the GOP is cleaning its house. Brave souls have ventured into the GOP garage to get a handle on some issues that Republicans haven’t traditionally championed. It’s not that we haven’t taken ownership of these issues; we just haven’t found a place for them in the usual Conservative conversation. One issue that has turned up consistently in the post-election rehash is immigration. This bulky beast of a box has yet to be unpacked and framed within the Conservative narrative.  Believe me, others have tried, with great opposition coming from both Democrat and Republican houses - but with no success. Perhaps, it is immigration’s time? Many Republicans are conceding that future elections may be won or lost in part by how this issue is framed. My prayer is that Conservatives win the race to define the situation accurately and move forward to much-needed reform.

My husband and I recently attended the Maryland GOP Fall Convention in Ellicot City, Maryland. We were pleased to learn that immigration was one of three seminars offered during the educational portion of the convention.  The questions that arose throughout the seminar were telling of the varied perceptions amongst Conservatives. Cries of “Deport!” and for “Compassion!” came from a somewhat divided room – a microcosm of the party at large. Some sentiments came with audible emotion. Alex Nowrasteh, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute enlightened us with a close look at the data.  Mr. Nowrasteh was able to cut through the complexity with his informed perspective. As light was shed, shades of misconception were brightened and in some cases, erased. After entertaining the data he proffered, I feel there is hope for effective and beneficial reform if we are willing to better educate ourselves on the matter.

Whether or not you take an Arizonian approach, support open immigration, or are somewhere in between, is immaterial for the purpose of this post.  My intention is to ask you to think seriously about immigration, considering the data that is informing some great Conservative thinking. Here are some pertinent facts presented by Mr Nowrasteh: 

• Our current law is largely anti-immigration.
• Half of all unauthorized immigrants enter the country legally on tourist visas and overstay.
• There are currently 18,000 border patrol personnel – more than ever. Illegal crossings have leveled off while the budget for border control continues to climb.
• There are three ways an immigrant can gain legal residency: 1. Highly skilled 2. Family based (Do you have family already legally living, here?) 3. Refugee
• Employment-based immigration green cards are limited to 140,000 per year split amongst different skill levels.
• Only 5,000 green cards are set aside for workers holding less than a college education.
• Only 7% total of employment-based immigration green cards can go to any one country (meaning a long waiting lists for legal entry).
• The waiting period for a green card looks something like this: Skilled/educated - 6 months; Family member already here - 6 months; South African computer programmer - 6 years; 35-year old Indian computer programmer - 35 years. The typical wait for a qualified candidate is 10 years.
• President Obama has deported far more illegal immigrants than prior administrations. His deportations for the last recorded year were just shy of 400,000 – topping George W. Bush’s tally. This destroys the myth that the Democrat Party sympathizes with the plight of the illegal immigrant.
• From 2006 – 2010, net immigration from Mexico was zero. The same number of illegals are leaving as are coming in due to the weakened US economy. This is a first since we began measuring 100 years ago.
• About a million unauthorized immigrants have left because of our bad economy, not enforcement.
• Mexican immigration has probably peaked and will stabilize or level off. The average Mexican woman used to have seven kids. Today it’s 2.2.
• Legalized immigrants are traditionally known for their entrepreneurial efforts and excellent will to thrive and contribute to our economy.

The more difficult it is to obtain legal residency in the United States, the greater our illegal immigrant problem will become. Can we agree something needs to be done to make it easier to obtain legal residency? Bear in mind there is a difference between residency and citizenship.

What say you? How should this conversation begin?  And, importantly, as Conservatives, how do we want it to end?

(Melissa Flores is a speaker, radio host on He's Alive Radio and a Minister at World Lighthouse, an inter-denominational church in Grantsville, Maryland. Melissa blogs at http://melissaflores.org/)