Published:
January 28, 2013
GREENVILLE,
S.C. — At Tommy’s Country Ham House, a popular spot downtown for politics and
comfort food, not much has changed since 2007, the last time conservatives here
made it crystal clear to politicians how they felt about what they see as
amnesty for people who entered the country illegally.
“What we need to do is put
them on a bus,” said Ken Sowell, 63, a lawyer from Greenville, as he ate lunch
recently at the diner. “We need to enforce the border. If they want to apply legally
more power to them. I don’t think just because a bunch of people violate the
law, we ought to change the law for them.”
Six years ago, the
intensity of that kind of sentiment was enough to scuttle immigration
overhaul efforts led by President George W. Bush and a bipartisan group of
lawmakers, including Senators John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of
South Carolina, both Republicans.
Now, as a new bipartisan
group of eight senators, including Mr. Graham and Mr. McCain, try again — this
time with President Obama as their partner in the White House — members of
Congress will have to overcome deep-seated resistance like that expressed in the
restaurant if they are to push legislation forward.
Republicans are betting
that opposition from Tea
Party activists and the party’s most conservative supporters will
have less impact because of the dire electoral consequences of continuing to
take a hard line regarding immigrants. The senators on Monday released a blueprint for a new immigration policy that
opens the door to possible citizenship ahead of a Tuesday speech on the subject
by Mr. Obama in Las Vegas.
There is some evidence that
the politics of immigration may be changing. Sean Hannity, the conservative
host at Fox News, said days after the 2012 presidential election that he has
“evolved” on immigration and now supports a comprehensive approach that could
“get rid of” the issue for Republicans. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, a
rising star in the Republican
Party, is pushing his own version of broad immigration changes — and
getting praise from conservative icons like Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed.
But the
Republican-controlled House remains a big hurdle. Speaker John A. Boehner on
Monday was noncommittal about the emerging proposal, with a spokesman saying
that Mr. Boehner “welcomes the work of leaders like Senator Rubio on this
issue, and is looking forward to learning more about the proposal.”
Representative Lamar Smith,
Republican of Texas and a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, said that
“when you legalize those who are in the country illegally, it costs taxpayers
millions of dollars, costs American workers thousands of jobs and encourages
more illegal immigration.”
And if the lunch rush
conversation at Tommy’s is any indication, many Republican lawmakers will soon
return home to find their constituents just as opposed to the idea as they were
before. Concern about immigration varies regionally. But in many Congressional
districts around the country, the prospect of intense opposition carries with
it the threat of a primary challenger if Republican lawmakers stray too far
from hawkish orthodoxy on the issue.
“The people who are coming
across the border — as far as I’m concerned, they are common criminals,” said
Bill Storey, 68, a retired civil engineer from Greenville. “We should not adopt
policies to reward them for coming into this country illegally. I have all the
regard for them in the world if they come through the legal system, but not the
illegal system.”
Charlie Newton, a
construction worker in the Greenville area, praised the work ethic of Hispanic
co-workers, but said he opposes any laws that would provide benefits to illegal
immigrants, including help becoming citizens.
“I think we need to help
our own people before we keep helping somebody else,” he said.
The president’s proposals
are expected to include more border enforcement, work site verification systems
that allow employers to check the status of their employees online, and a road
map to citizenship for the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants now living
in the country. Democratic senators could begin work on a bill in the next
couple of weeks.
In the Fourth Congressional
District in South Carolina, which includes Greenville, the formal arrival of
such a plan is likely to anger the constituents of Trey Gowdy, a Republican
House member who was elected in the 2010 Tea Party wave and is now the chairman
of a key subcommittee that will deal with immigration.
Mr. Gowdy has already taken a hard line,
signing on last year to the “Prohibiting Backdoor Amnesty Act,” which aimed to
reverse Mr. Obama’s plans to delay deportations for some young illegal
immigrants. The congressman will be under pressure to change his mind from the
White House and its allies, including groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
But when he goes home to Greenville, Mr. Gowdy may find that his constituents
want him to hold firm in his opposition.
“If you had to
go find the heartburn, you’d find it in Greenville,” said Katon Dawson, a
former chairman of the Republican Party in South Carolina. Mr. Dawson, who
supports comprehensive immigration changes, said the matter was likely to
become a hot-button issue again, as it was in 2006 and 2007.
“All I’d ever hear is, ‘Why
don’t you enforce the laws that we already have?’ And then I’d hear, ‘Why don’t
you just build the fence?’ ” Mr. Dawson said, describing the comments he
expects to hear again during the immigration debate.
Mr. Gowdy referred
questions about the immigration debate to the Republican chairman of the House
Judiciary Committee, Representative Robert W. Goodlatte of Virginia. But
veterans of South Carolina politics say the reaction in his district, and
others like it across the country, will help determine the fate of the national
legislation.
Bruce Bannister, the
Republican majority leader of the South Carolina House of Representatives, said
much of that response will depend on how the White House and its allies in
Washington frame the debate.
“The amnesty provisions
that got everybody fired up — I think you’re not going to see states like South
Carolina ever support that, even though we recognize that shipping or sending
home all the folks that came here illegally is almost impossible,” Mr.
Bannister, who represents Greenville, said.
Josh Kimbrall, a
conservative radio talk show host in South Carolina, agrees with Mr. Bannister.
Mr. Kimbrall supports immigration law changes, but says Republicans like Mr.
Bush and Mr. McCain allowed their effort in 2007 to be portrayed in a bad light
by opponents.
“It’s how you message it,” Mr. Kimbrall said.
“In Greenville, it’s the rule of law. As soon as the word amnesty is thrown in,
very few people are willing to go along.”
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