Immigration policy has drawn remarkably little mention in this huge general-election campaign — and some want to see the presidential candidates confront the issue in their final debate Wednesday at Hofstra University.
One year ago, nothing in politics was as explosive as Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s controversial plan to allow undocumented immigrants to apply for drivers’ licenses. The perceived presidential front-runner, Democrat Hillary Clinton, caught heat for her qualified support. But rival Barack Obama also expressed support — and it seemed then as if any GOP candidate would certainly be using this to drub the nominee this fall.
But John McCain faced fire from within the GOP for having supported President George W. Bush’s sweeping immigration bill last year. Condemned by foes as amnesty for illegal aliens, the bill died in the same type of backlash that killed Spitzer’s license proposal.
“It’s interesting,” says Patrick Young, director of the Central American Refugee Center in Hempstead and Brentwood. “Essentially, you had the two most pro-immigrant candidates win each of their parties’ nominations.”
On the GOP side, he said, “I think it’s been kept off the radar screen to give McCain some sense of cover.” As for Democrats, he observed, “Obama has made maybe only three statements on immigration since he became the nominee apparent in June.”
“They have the mainstream immigration-rights position,” said Young, who follows the issue closely and writes blog posts on it. “Protect the border, legalize those who are not criminals, deal with the future flow.”
An active Republican, who declined to be identified, believes...
Dan Janison
....the national party is burying the issue — but adds hopefully that if handled the right way, McCain’s past immigration stances could be used to buttress his “maverick” credentials and win over moderate swing voters.
Tomorrow, the New York Immigration Coalition plans in a Manhattan news conference to urge both candidates to “lay out their plans on how to fix the nation’s broken immigration system” while they appear on Long Island, “the epicenter of the national immigration debate.”
(Photo of Bush greeting border patrol is from White House Web site).