Domestic Issues Hurt Bush in Poll

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A29858-2004Jan19?language=printer ^

[Aetius]

As it so happens, the number that many proponents of immigration reduction favor setting for the annual cap is between 200 -300K.

I agree that it is easier to appeal to Hispanics higher up the economic ladder, but so far it has not been the case that higher income Hispanics go Republican, at least not in majority numbers. Income is not necessarily the best vote indicator; didn't Bush and Gore pretty much tie amongst the very wealthy? (I could be wrong here, but I think I read that after the 2000 election)

Another problem with this hope is that under current conditions of mass legal and illegal immigration, as well as under any hypothetical conditions that would result from any of the guest worker/amnesty plans, is that the number of low skilled, low income Hispanics will always greatly outnumber those further up the ladder who allegedly would be more Republican. One of the reasons for this is of course sheer numbers. As long as you have a mass supply of legal immigrants and so-called guest workers you have the effect of driving wages down. The guest worker program does not change this, because the employer need only first make the job available to Americans at very low wages knowing that will make it more unattractive to them, while at the same time knowing that their will be plenty of foreigners happy to take that wage. That is what is often left out of this discussion by the media and politicians--the effect mass immigration has in making certain jobs more undesirable than they otherwise would be. Its brilliant on the part of proponents of mass immigration; they put in place unwanted immigration policies that results in a flood of people, which in turn plays a part in driving down wages and making jobs more unattactive, then cry about Americans not wanting to do these jobs they have helped to sabotage.

Sorry to ramble on, but in short even if it were true that high income immgrants will go Republican, they will always be greatly outnumbered by low income immigrants. This is the case now, and it would be under virtually any proposed legislation in Congress not sponsored by Congressman Tom Tancredo.