Rand Paul and Immigration
by Ryan Campbell | April 7, 2015
Where does Rand stand?
Rand Paul has officially declared for the presidency, despite significant obstacles in his way. While it seems fairly certain he will swing for the fences, what should we expect from Rand on the most contentious and active issue today in politics: immigration?
Immigration right now is a red-button topic: President Obama issued an executive order as part of a large policy shift expanding Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) called Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA). This gives temporary status to undocumented immigrants brought here as children with clean records, and expanded coverage to include the parents of US citizens and permanent residents.
Because this policy has Obama’s name on it and is a big change in a sensitive subject, the GOP has been very quick to call foul, and the executive order has been challenged in court by a group of GOP Governors on behalf of their states (although other states have filed amicus briefs in support). Rhetorically, Rand has gone a bit further than most on the subject:
“…there are instances in our history when we allow power to gravitate toward one person and that one person then makes decisions that really are egregious. Think of what happened in World War II… [the President] said to Japanese people ‘We’re going to put you in a camp. We’re going to take away all your rights and liberties and we’re going to intern you in a camp.’”
Today, as an older gentleman, George Takei still remembers his father being held at bayonette-point by soldiers who forced his family to sell all they had and brought him to an internment camp; to call it an unfair comparison would be an understatement. To compliment his quote, Paul put forward legislation to undo DAPA.
For millions of Latinos, including many voters with undocumented parents, DAPA will create a positive, visible difference in their community. It also falls into a very symbolic fight about what the racial identity of the people that many Republicans seem so desperate to get rid of is; for many, when the GOP rails against “immigrants,” it’s really railing against Latinos.
This happens at a time where the GOP is under pressure for their stance on Erik Garner; Erik Garner’s DA is running to replace Michael Grimm in Congress; their stance on the Voting Rights Act and voting restrictions; the fact that their Majority Whip gave a speech for a Neo Nazi convention… in addition to many other public stances that the GOP is being criticized for as they continue to be a party led exclusively by white men despite obvious demographic changes.
While Rand Paul has honestly tried to reach across the lines on minority issues, such as having encouraging rhetoric on ending the War on Drugs as a way to help bring about more racial equality in the criminal justice system, he can ultimately come off as a somewhat disconnected white guy during outreach. While there are several examples of this, my favorite is when he felt it necessary to “express my admiration for the romance of Latin culture” to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
All of Rand Paul’s stances on the issues, i.e. his vote against the Gang of 8 bill for not being secure enough despite the Corker-Hoeven “border surge” amendment, can really be crystallized in the following exchange: Rand Paul was in Iowa to court voters with Steve King (R-IA), the most anti-immigrant member of Congress, and he literally ran away when King was approached by two Dreamers, my coworkers Erika Andiola and Cesar Vargas.
Paul took a bite of his burger, heard them introduce themselves as Dreamers, choked a bit and then his handler whispered to him something along the lines of “we should get away from this.” Paul agreed and left in so much haste that he abandoned his food: he simply has nothing to say to Dreamers that can’t be boiled down to some version of “self-deportation” until we get past the primary.
In the end, Rand Paul is the epitome of politicians who say “I believe in immigration reform, BUT…” He has talked about the undocumented immigrants he met in Texas making as much in a day as he did in an hour while he was working landscaping, and has shown that he does have empathy. When it comes to show this in a practical manner, however, he’s consistently broken against the few opportunities for change in our broken immigration system that have come up.
While Obama has spent time abroad, is the son of an immigrant and always has sympathetic rhetoric on immigration, both he and George Bush Jr. failed to ferry legislation through Congress despite earnest attempts: what are the chances that Rand Paul would be able to when he isn’t willing to take even modest action currently?
For there to be real, lasting immigration reform, much like any change in an age where half of Congress is incentivized to do nothing but obstruct the other party’s President, whatever President we have will need to put forward an uncompromising effort just to get legislation off the ground. To Paul, immigration simply isn’t that high a priority to break with his party, despite a consensus from the smart people (i.e. Forbes) that it would help the economy for all.