Ted Cruz nabs support of border security proponents at CPAC

By Seth McLaughlin - The Washington Times - Thursday, March 3, 2016

They’ve been told for years that they need to embrace a more lenient approach on immigration, but grass-roots leaders at the Conservative Political Action Conference are having none of it, saying they want to see the laws on the books enforced instead.

But Donald Trump, the most prominent defender of their message, has failed to win much of their support, with Sen. Ted Cruz emerging as their champion instead.

Ann Eubank of Alabama said the nation should have learned a lesson from the last major amnesty, under President Reagan, which legalized millions of illegal immigrants but did little to stop the flow of new arrivals.

“It didn’t work. All it did was encourage 12 million more illegals to come to this country to take American jobs,” the 67-year-old said. “If you are here illegally, you need to go home.”

Ms. Eubank and Heather Knopp of Virginia both said they are backing Mr. Cruz in part because of his push to crack down on immigration.

“I think it is fair. I think it is sensible,” said Ms. Knopp, 49. “We need the political will, and not to be afraid of lobbyists, or K Street or whatever and just follow the law.”

The two women are evidence of just how badly Republican leaders failed in their hopes to force a rethinking within the party after the 2012 election. The Republican National Committee concluded that presidential nominee Mitt Romney lost a winnable election in large part because he alienated Hispanic voters with his support for an immigration crackdown.

The year after the election, Sen. Marco Rubio and three other Republicans joined four Democrats to write an immigration bill that would have granted citizenship rights to most of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.

That bill passed the Senate on a bipartisan vote, but stumbled in the House, and the issue has remained a thorn in the side of the Republican Party, with Mr. Trump agitating the wound with his demand for massive deportations, a wall on the southern border and an end to birthright citizenship.

The irony is that Republican voters overall are moving toward the Senate immigration bill.

Exit polling during this year’s election shows only in Alabama does a majority of voters say illegal immigrants should be deported. In the other states where surveys were conducted, more people want to see them granted some sort of legal status.

That’s a significant shift from 2008, the last time the question was asked in exit polling, when deportation was a significantly more popular option.

Some CPAC attendees said they would be willing to consider legalization, but only if the government strengthens border security and gets a better handle on who is living in the United States illegally.

“What we want is ordered immigration, that is legal where we know who the people are that are coming in, and we approve of them,” Thomas Schlehuber of Maryland said, arguing that the nation must be sure it can stop terrorists, violent criminal and drug traffickers from entering the country.

“Now, as far as the people that are here, I think, we let them in through our own negligence,” he said. “So we have to take some responsibility for that. I like the idea of legalization without citizenship and then let [nonviolent illegal immigrants] get in line with everybody else that is trying to become a citizen. I am very much on board with that.”

But the intensity of the issue, a least among grass-roots activists, still appears to be on the crackdown side.

“If I was president of the United States, I would stop all immigration for five to 10 years, and not to be punitive, but to do it in a way until our country gets back on its feet and is economically sound,” said Wayne Mazza of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Mazza agreed with others, saying the government must enforce the laws on the books and illegal and legal immigration must be reduced — at least for the time being — to help unemployed Americans looking for work.

“For politicians to tell me that we need foreign workers that to me is an absolute insult to the American people,” the 64-year-old said. “An absolute insult.”

• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.