More and more, it looks like Walker's looking to get illegals to return to their home countries on their own dime by tightening up on workplace enforcement and increasing immigration raids.Alexander Staudt, the treasurer of the University of Iowa College Republicans, also told Mr. Walker in the meet-and-greet line that he was concerned that by talking tough on immigration, Republican candidates would turn off Hispanics.
“In terms of how wide or how narrow the door’s open, our No. 1 priority is American workers and American wages,’’ Mr. Walker told him. “I don’t know how anyone can argue against that.’’
Both Mr. Staudt and Mr. Failor asked the governor what he would do about the millions of undocumented workers already in the country. Mr. Walker said they should return to their countries of origin and apply for legal entry.
Mr. Staudt liked that answer. “The bigger that number gets,’’ he said, referring to undocumented immigrants, “it’s going to become less economically viable.’’
But Mr. Failor, who has attended several Republican candidates’ events this year, said he was disappointed.
“He gave a conflicting message, in my opinion,’’ he said. “He said he’s not one who believes in spending billions of dollars to deport all these undocumented immigrants. When I asked if he supported a pathway to legal status, he said no, he’d send them back to their country of origin and let them get in line with everybody else. I don’t know how that works within the deportation equation.’’
>>Alexander Staudt, the treasurer of the University of Iowa College Republicans, also told Mr. Walker in the meet-and-greet line that he was concerned that by talking tough on immigration, Republican candidates would turn off Hispanics.<<
I honestly don’t think you’re ever really going to hear Walker say something akin to “Send them all packing, now!” ever. That’s not the sort of person he is. Besides, that’s the sort of language that does indeed lose the Hispanic vote. Note that the “Hispanic vote,” in normal times (which these are not) is the vote of Hispanic American citizens, citizens who also have every reason to want the wages they work for to be protected from a flood of illegals, regardless the country they’re coming in from.
Again, Walker’s move to reframe the immigration discussion in terms of showing concern for the level of American wages could make some serious inroads into the Hispanic vote. It would be politically foolish of him to sound like he’s in any way berating Hispanics, even those here illegally today. And Walker is no fool when it comes to politics. Quite the opposite, in fact.