Bush's Immigration Reform Sabotage - Underestimating Latino Voters
Two weeks ago, as President Bush declared that "el sueno americano es para todos" (the American Dream is for everyone) in a satellite speech to the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), the White House was working behind the scenes to sabotage any immigration reform bill from coming to a vote in Congress. According to reports from the Wall Street Journal and statements by Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho), the White House asked Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist to prevent the immigration bill AgJOBS from being voted on in the Senate. The bill, sponsored by Craig, would have provided a pathway to legal status for up to 500,000 agricultural workers. But if the Republican leadership thinks they can gain Latino votes by praising immigrants publicly, even as they work privately to pull the plug on any immigration reforms, they are underestimating the savviness of Latino voters, says Maria Echaveste, President of the Nueva Vista Group. [
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