How We Can Impact the Immigration Debate in the US Senate

In 2013, after the underwhelming 2012 national election results, Republicans went along with the lie that they were losing national elections because of their bad stock with Latino voters. The race card fooled the RNC leadership, when they should have been paying attention to the dismal turnout of the working class vote, particularly the working class white vote which saw both Romney and Obama out of touch and uninterested in their decimated economic outlook.

The 2013 Obamacare of Immigration reform passed out of the United States with bipartisan support, but a strong contingent of US Senators rejected the legislation outright.

Here are the Republicans who voted for that 2013 travesty:

Alexander (R-TN)

Ayotte (R-NH)

Chiesa (R-NJ)

Collins (R-ME)

Corker (R-TN)

Flake (R-AZ)

Graham (R-SC)

Hatch (R-UT)

Heller (R-NV)

Kirk (R-IL)

Murkowski (R-AK)

Rubio (R-FL)

Now, what about the latest amnesty proposals from two weeks ago?

The McCain-Coons Bill:

Flake (R-AZ)

Gardner (R-CO)

Graham (R-SC)

Murkowski (R-AK)

The Schumer-Rounds-Collins travesty:

Alexander (R-TN)

Collins (R-ME)

Flake (R-AZ)

Gardner (R-CO)

Graham (R-SC)

Isakson (R-GA)

Murkowski (R-AK)

Rounds (R-SD)

The two above pieces of legislation were completely unacceptable to President Trump. Notice that many of the Republicans who had caved to public pressure in 2013 did not show up on this list.

Senator John Hoeven voted for the 2013 travesty, but not any of the bills presented in 2018. He is not located on either of the above lists. Neither is Marco Rubio, for that matter. Surprisingly, neither is Bob Corker, even though he has signaled not only massive opposition to President Trump, but also had announced that he will not be running for re-election.

It does not look as though he will be changing his mind on that front, either, even though there were rumors he was going to jump back in the race and run for re-election after all.

Notice all that Senator Dean Heller did not vote the above legislation either. Of course, the cynical reason is that he is in a battle for re-election this year, and cannot afford to offend his already enraged Republican base in Nevada.

What's the point of this post?

It is possible to push our US Senators in the right direction on key legislation. The immigration fight in the United States Senate is not doomed to fail. But we are cutting ourselves short if we don't hustle and make it abundantly clear to our representatives that we want enforcement, not amnesty.