GOP consultant: Our party was winning on immigration until we blew it | Opinion
For three years, Joe Biden systematically dismantled immigration policies and created one of the worst border crises in American history. He appointed Kamala Harris as “border czar” to fix the root causes — a move that proved to be nothing more than a PR stunt.
The Biden immigration policy has become an unmitigated disaster as a record number of migrants continue to flood our border.
In survey after survey, voters trust Republicans over Democrats when it comes to Immigration or blame the Biden administration most for immigration troubles.
Empowered by this, governors affected by border crossings made the brilliant move to transport migrants to sanctuary cities in Blue States. It worked. Those mayors started pushing Biden to do more.
Republicans were winning on this issue — until it came time to actually fix the problem.
There are many reasons to oppose the Senate border deal. Perhaps the most significant is that it also provides funding for Ukraine and Israel, something that does not belong in an immigration bill. According to an American Pulse survey, 67% of Americans want a clean bill. This is not a partisan belief, the same survey showed that 51% of Democrats support separating Foreign Aid from Immigration.
It should be easy for Republicans to argue why this deal was DOA. Instead, Republicans let Democrats seize the narrative by saying Donald Trump wanted it dead, so MAGA killed it. Then, we made the ridiculous argument that legislation is not needed, and Joe Biden could somehow close the border with a snap of his fingers.
As a conservative, I don’t want any president to have that kind of power. The Founding Fathers created a government with three separate, but equal branches to ensure power rests in the hands of the people — not the presidency. The president does not make the laws, that’s Congress’s job.
It’s up to Congress to pass immigration reform that secures the border and gives law enforcement the tools they need. The problem is Republicans don’t have the votes right now to pass a border security bill that will actually stop people from entering our country illegally. We didn’t even have the votes to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
If we want to get anything done, we need a lot more Republicans in Congress.
To do this, we must start nominating Republicans who can win elections. I know when I say this, some people flash back to past “electable Republicans” who failed to stand up for conservative principles. When some people hear the term RINO, they think of Sens. John McCain and Mitt Romney and blame them for lacking the will to fight and for giving us Barack Obama. It’s a big reason we nominated Trump — we know he won’t back down from a fight.
Somehow, someway opposing electable Republicans has transformed into an ideological cleansing of our party. We destroy good candidates in the name of conservatism and end up nominating people who have zero chance of winning the election. Instead of patting ourselves on the back, we need to accept the political reality that an ideological victory is not an actual victory. We must stop living in a fantasy land.
Democrats are winning in swing states, going to Congress, and making the laws. Some of them want amnesty and open borders. Some support sanctuary cities, oppose building a wall and believe they can tell Texas not to protect our border.
Republican voters have the power to stop them.
Electability is not a bad word. It should be the standard we use to judge all our candidates. Let’s nominate conservatives who can win elections. Let’s send people to Congress who share our fundamental belief in limited government and a dedication to protecting our rights, liberties and freedoms. Otherwise, we lose our border.
This story was originally published February 10, 2024 at 6:00 AM with the headline "GOP consultant: Our party was winning on immigration until we blew it | Opinion."