Editorial:
Immigration was on the mind of most folks with the presidential campaigns starting to take off. It started with the racially charged comments by presidential candidate, Donald Trump. Initially this candidacy was viewed as nothing more than a sideshow, then a funny thing happened, his comments propelled him into the lead that shows for at least one-quarter of the Republican voters he is their first choice.
This turn of events has dragged the Republican Party into a quagmire, Trump is now driving the narrative for the Republican Party, which is of particular concern with the first nationally televised coming up on August 6. These poll numbers will put Trump front and center at the debate figuratively and literally, he will be center stage between the remaining candidates.
The Republican Party, and everyone else, knows that they need to reach the Hispanic voter and the minority voter if they have any chance at winning the next presidential election. Trump is driving a wedge between the Republican Party and those voters they need to appease.
Trump is also destroying the Republican Party from within by moving the right wing segment of the party even further right by taking away those voters from candidates such as Scott Walker. Walker who started out as a darling, along with Ted Cruz, of the more conservative segment of the Party, Trump is taking away the limelight and the votes.
On the heels of Donald Trump then came the sad case of the shooting death of Kate Steinle in San Francisco by Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, an undocumented immigrant with a history of crime. As an undocumented person Lopez-Sanchez was in that city because he felt safe there with it being a Sanctuary City.
The Republican Party jumped on this issue and Congress is now in debate about removing Homeland Security funding from Sanctuary cities. This is a knee-jerk reaction by the Republican Party. The problem or issue is not Sanctuary cities but the issue of immigration reform. The Republicans do not want to discuss that issue! Comprehensive immigration reform would have gone a long way toward preventing this situation from every happening.
Lastly, this past week the State of Texas was once again a hot button state when it comes to immigration. In the last year, the state has refused to issue birth certificates to children who were born in Texas to undocumented parents. This flies in the face of the Constitution which states that every person born in the States is a citizen.
As Nativo Lopez of Hermandad Mexicana, stated: “Unless one desires to enter a contract with the State in order to receive some benefit or privilege, their State birth certificate is unnecessary. We don’t need their stinking badges!”
In May a lawsuit has been filed on behalf of four women who filed a civil rights lawsuit against the Texas Department of State Health Services alleging constitutional discrimination and interference in the federal government’s authority over immigration.
Throughout the Republican presidential campaign season, imnmigration will continue to be a hot button issue, an issue that the Hispanic community will have live through, until a candidate steps up and talks about immigration reform.