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Senator George LeMieux (R-FL) is starting to feel the heat of pro-migrant voters, specifically Latino voters. Tonight, Univision will air a debate in which current Florida governor and U.S. Senate nominee Charlie Crist will come out in support of the DREAM Act. The day before yesterday, Representative Kendrick Meek (D-FL), and also a nominee for U.S. Senate, hand delivered a letter to LeMieux. This part of Meek’s letter says it all:
It is important to note that the State of Florida stands much to gain from the passage of this legislation. By allowing certain youths an opportunity at a solid education and a pathway to citizenship, we can stop the current cycle of immigrant poverty and break the social caste systems that discourage economic and personal growth. Passage of the legislation will also help reduce high school dropout rates, boost college attendance and increase the poll of nurses, teachers, highly qualified recruits for the U.S. armed forces, and other high-need areas of our workforce.
Further, Florida has had a standing tradition of bi-partisan support for immigration reform with Senators Bill Nelson and Mel Martinez helping lead the way with their sponsorship of the DREAM Act. On the House side the legislation enjoys bi-partisan support with eight Florida members currently signed on as co-sponsors.
Kendrick Meek (16 September 2010)
In Arizona, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) is also facing significant pressure. The migrant youth movement in Arizona has been hounding him and converting Republicans wherever he goes. Currently, undocumented youth who would benefit from the DREAM Act are camped outside of his office until he passes the DREAM Act. A few days ago, members of the Arizona DREAM Act Coalition approached his daughter, Meghan McCain, and got her to state her support for the DREAM Act:
So it goes with the rest of the twelve Republican Senators we need to support the DREAM Act as actions happen across the country.
Seven Republicans voted for the DREAM Act in 2007: Bob Bennett (R-UT), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Susan Collins (R-ME), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX), Richard Lugar (R-IN), and Olympia Snowe (R-ME). If they refuse to vote for the exact same bill in 2010 they will expose themselves as the "party of no" that Democrats have accused them of. It is bigger than just the 2010 elections, though. If the Republicans do not vote in favor of getting the DREAM Act passed, now, they will turn off an entire generation of Latino voters.
If the Democrats are playing politics with the DREAM Act, so be it. Moderate Republicans should not let politics get in the way of the lives of millions of migrant youth, or the lives of the voters in the communities that undocumented youth are intertwined with, for that matter. I personally can say that as furious as I’ve been at Democrats for tearing apart our communities with over a thousand deportations a day, they’ve got me focused on Republican votes and the upcoming elections, right now, like I’ve never been before.
If my senator from Massachusetts, Scott Brown (R-MA), votes against the DREAM Act I will work harder than I’ve ever worked on anything like this before to get him replaced with a pro-migrant Senator in 2012. As Latino migrant youth leader Carlos Saavedra said in the New York Times "Our people will remember in November. They will be ready to reward or punish."
19 Comments
If the SocCons that co-opted the Tea Party brand maintain their control of the GOP, Scott Brown and Olympia Snowe will not be able to stay in the party. Simple as that.
It is that simple :)
We need one of those links to contact all our Senators; of course my Sen Cornyn is still stumbling all over his words about whether he means to take citizenship away from babies born in this country…as in take a hit at the Constitution. I do believe he once sat on our State Sup Ct…Maybe he will morph over to the St. Board of Education…there he can opine about Muslims in our textbooks.
Here’s the link:
http://action.dreamactivist.org/movedream/
Thank you…There is no arguement for not helping these young people.
Latino voters are no different from other voters. Politicians lie and pander to any and all equally. It’s what happens after the elections that matters.
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8 FL Representatives have signed on, but there are 25 FL Representatives. Evidently, you don’t even have all of the 10 Dems on board. LeMieux is not a candidate for reelection. His term expires this year but he may leave the Senate and run for Nelson’s seat in 2012. 2 FL Representatives were born in Cuba (Ros-Lehtinen and L. Diaz-Balart) and Senate candidate Marco Rubio is the son of Cuban immigrants. Representative M. Diaz-Balart is also the son of Cuban immigrants.
Are you saying that 8 Representatives are not significant? If you were following the politics of the DREAM Act you’d know that the DREAM Act has been held back by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus because they want to pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform all together not in pieces. That’s part of why there’s a low co-sponsorship total in the House. The fact remains that you can’t get elected President without the Latino vote.
I’m saying 8 of 25 is less than 1/3. Since you don’t have even all the Dems in the FL delegation, I’m also saying it’s equally or more accurate to say you have bipartisan opposition. I’m also saying it’s kind of hard to put pressure on LeMieux who’s leaving, perhaps never to be heard from again.
I notice that Alan Grayson is not a co-sponsor.
In FL, the 8 co-sponsors are 3 Cuban-American Repubs, 3 black Dems, and 2 non-Hispanic white women Dems. The measure has no co-sponsors among among non-Hispanic white males. 6 co-sponsors are from South FL and 1 each from Jacksonville and Tampa.
Thanks for front-paging this FDL!
Bwahahaha! Lets see the GOP run away from Glen Beck’s anti immigrant rants or watch the GOP lose Hispanics for a generation.
Harry Reid has brought this up for a vote either Harry gets out the Dem vote to pass this or he looks weak. However the GOP if this passes looks weak to their most motivated voters the Tea Baggers. The GOP on the other hand if they kill this bill all look like Racists to Hispanic voters.
Lose/ Lose for the GOP win/lose for us
Those votes were before the Tea Party started winning I expect all these GOPers to switch votes unless they are more afraid of Hispanic voters now that the GOP primary where the Tea Baggers could concentrate their influence is over and the GOPers need to worry about us in the general election.
You would think Hutchison would pay attention to the Hispanic vote…although there is ongoing question about whether she will be running again.
Great stuff. GOP threatens arrest when you ask them about their stance:
Last week in NH at the Joe Arpaio love fest NH AG/Senate Candidate Kelly Ayotte and her crew had me bounced despite the fact that I am credentialed member of the press and other media were allowed to stay because they weren’t asking nasty questions.
Content & viewpoint based discrimination totally, and I schooled Arpaio on a failed NH initiative in 2005 to call undocumenteds “trespassers.”
The NH race between Ayotte and Hodes is crucial.
Lawyers have spoken with me about seeking Injunctive Relief as did Amy Goodman & Democracy Now! for the 2008 RNC GOP beat downs, remember that? 800+ arrests, total police state thuggery.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8E5y04ryb4
http://christopher-king.blogspot.com/2010/09/will-kingcast-other-news-bloggers-join.html
Amy Goodman had a good DN piece on this….in discussion with some other reporters. I just heard a rerun, so I do not know its date. But a group in Calif. is looking at the same legal issue. Good luck
This is all about bringing in more cannon fodder, following on what the Bush administration implemented. It is offensive that citizenship is contingent upon military service and certain doom in pointless wars.