Yesterday’s election results show it is imperative that the Republican Party improve Latino outreach or become permanently uncompetitive in presidential and many other races. Exit and election-eve polls put Mitt Romney’s votes among Latinos at 23%, although over 60% of Latinos are center-right, according to Pew Research.

Polls consistently show a majority of Republicans support immigration reform, including a path to legalization, and a PEW Research poll from May 2011 showed that even among staunch conservatives there is a 49/49% split on immigration reform. However, due to lack of engagement and outreach and shrill rhetoric on this issue from a small minority of Republican politicians, Democrats have been successful in unfairly framing the Republican party as anti-immigrant and anti-Latino, particularly in states where there has been harsh rhetoric on immigration.

This trend started in California. Prior to proposition 187, Republicans were competitive in statewide races, but since Governor Pete Wilson jumped on the proposition 187 bandwagon, many Hispanics left the GOP and since then the GOP has not been competitive in statewide races in California.

Latino outreach improved during the Reagan/Bush years, and President Bush won over 40% of the Latino vote during his reelection campaign, proving that Latinos can be swayed to vote Republican with the right messaging and sensible solutions to issues of interest to Latinos like immigration.

However, since SB1070 and other harsh laws were passed, mass exodus of conservative Hispanics has occurred in Colorado following Tom Tancredo’s candidacy for Governor, in Arizona following SB1070, and in Nevada due to harsh rhetoric from Sharon Angle in the U.S. Senate race.

Cafe Con Leche Republicans initially supported Newt Gingrich, and one of our reasons is that Newt’s campaign recognized the importance of outreach to Latinos and a sensible stance on immigration reform, neither mass amnesty nor mass deportations but a solution that addresses our broken immigration system and seeks to strike a balance between accountability for illegal immigration, and the need to keep families together and avoid damaging our economy. Newt’s campaign reached out to us, and ultimately Cafe Con Leche Republicans provided five members of Newt’s national Hispanic leadership team.

When Newt dropped out of the race and Mitt Romney became the nominee, we decided to support Mitt Romney. Numerous attempts to connect with the Romney campaign’s Hispanic outreach proved fruitless. In our one year of existence, we’ve also had just one conversation with the RNC’s Latino outreach, and were left with the impression the RNC wasn’t interested in working with us due to our pro-immigration focus.

A common complaint among Latino Republican leaders is that RNC Latino outreach is dominated by a small clique of Latino Republicans from Washington DC and Florida, to the exclusion of others, particularly from the Southwest. We share the frustration of Latino Republican leaders from outside the DC/Florida clique that Mitt Romney received bad advice to largely ignore immigration, and some of Mitt’s rhetoric and association with immigration extremist Kris Kobach early in the campaign provided useful fodder for Democrats to frame Mitt Romney as anti-immigrant and anti-Latino, which we don’t believe is the case.

It’s time to root out the small minority of immigration extremists from the GOP. That process is already underway, for example Russell Pearce, the author of SB1070, has now twice been defeated by conservative Republicans who differed mainly by having sensible positions on immigration reform. We’d like to see Kris Kobach leave the party. Kobach is a top lieutenant to John Tanton, a notorious bigot and population control progressive, who once bragged how he manipulates Republicans. In a letter to a supporter, Tanton in 2001 stated:

The goal is to change Republicans’ perception of immigration so that when they encounter the word “immigrant,” their reaction is “Democrat.”

Our plan is to hire a lobbyist who will carry the following message to Republicans on Capitol Hill and to business leaders: Continued massive immigration will soon cost you political control of the White House and Congress, given the current, even division of the electorate, and the massive infusion of voters about to be made to the Democratic side. We are about to replay the Democratic hegemony of 1933-53, fueled back then by the massive immigration of 1890-1924.

It’s time for the GOP to recognize this pattern of manipulation, and fully embrace immigration reform based on free market principles, and not arbitrarily low quotas promoted by population control progressives like Tanton. Harsh rhetoric on immigration coupled with lack of adequate engagement with Latinos and race baiting by Democrats has resulted in very low GOP support among Latinos, and we ignore this at our own political peril.

The 2012 election served up lemons for Republicans, but with sensible changes in strategy and direction we can make lemonade instead. Already we’re hearing that party leaders have woken up and ‘smelled the coffee’ and we’re hopeful this situation can be turned around.

President Obama promised to pursue immigration reform during his second term. Due to President Obama’s history of immigration fakery and failure to put anything on the table during his first term, we have reason to doubt this promise, but he is welcome to surprise us. With the election behind us, we have put our partisan hats and boxing gloves aside, and we stand fully ready to work with President Obama and Democrats on immigration reform, which won’t happen without bipartisan support. We hope that President Obama will ‘hit the reset button’ in his relationship with Republicans in Congress, as the hyper-partisanship that has characterized the last four years has been a major stumbling block to governing our nation.

Original link here.

####

About Us – Cafe Con Leche Republicans is a national organization of Republicans who welcome “New Americans”, defined as immigrants and family of recent immigrants. Our mission is to make America and the GOP, more welcoming to “New Immigrants” through political activism, “in-reach” and education within the Republican Party, and lobbying government to adopt more immigrant friendly policies. We also seek to bring more conservative and moderate “New Americans” to the Republican Party. These efforts will strengthen the GOP, and lead more Republicans to embrace welcoming policies for immigrants and their families. We have members nationwide, with chapters in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, and California. Our members and leadership are predominantly Hispanic, though we define ourselves by mission and guiding principles, not ethnicity, and we welcome all who share our goals. Our leadership is 100% Republican.

Words are strong and can persuade.   They can create division or they can unite.  Words can hurt or they can heal. It is the rhetoric that will drive Latinos away from the GOP, many contend.  What many journalists and bloggers, and other people scream about is what is not being said regarding Latinos. And it matters. The Liberals state that GOP Presidential candidates cannot count on the Latino vote because of the rhetoric that has instilled fear in the Latino community.  They are correct.  However, what they fail to address is that actions speak louder than words.  Actions brought to light by the present administration are dangerous to Latinos because they are perilous to the Latino families and community.  In implementing Secured Communities, which by all accounts was supposed to secure the U.S. and Communities across the nation, the Obama Administration has managed to use Secured Communities to deport Latinos (U.S. citizens and not), separate families, and drown out opportunity.  In fact, this Administration has done more to discourage, separate families, and harm the Latino community than any other previous Administration, Republican or Democrat.

In a study done by the Berkley School of Law and the Cardozo Law Center, the Obama Administration deported 400,000 Latinos in one year using the Secured Communities as an excuse.  My reaction at first was great, it is doing what it intended.  Secured Communities, as it was introduced by President Bush in April 2008, was intended to help keep our communities safe by identifying those in the U.S. who were criminal illegal aliens, and those who were in the U.S. with the intent of furthering any bombing or terrorists activities.  However, the present Administration took it a step further and began mass deportations of Latinos.

The use of the word “discretionary,” in the law allows (as it is in SB 1070) authorities to apprehend, question, detain, and often times deport, those looking “illegal.”  This has never been defined exactly.  Instead, authorities are given “discretion” to question those looking “illegal.”

No one in the media like CNN, NBC, or Latino Fox News has reported that out of the pool of 400,000 in one year 1.6% of these persons detained by ICE were U.S. citizens.  This is more than the Bush Administration deported (even with errors) in 4 years.  In fact, DHS Secretary Napolitano boasted that the program was doing its share and was helping to keep American safe.    What the DOJ and the Obama Administration failed to voice was that at least 1.6% of those arrested were U.S. citizens.  In a further law recently signed by the President, these U.S. Citizens can now be detained indefinitely under the  National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).  Further studies by AILA, American Immigration Lawyers Association, report that deportations are closer to 1 million in two years.   That amount is close to the total population of San Antonio, which is at 1.33 Million.   Imagine, an entire city gone, by “legal means.”   What is more alarming is that while there is an alleged 11 million undocumented in the U.S.,  only 77% are Latino/Hispanic.  Those detained and arrested under Secured Communities were 93% Latino.  There is a disproportion in usage of this program.  In other words, this Administration is targeting Latinos.

Rather than report on this truth, the media  and their articles concentrate only on Republican rhetoric.  While words are powerful, do we, as Latinos and Americans, not feel in danger when Latino U.S. Citizens are randomly selected, harassed and incarcerated by this Administration as law breakers?  When the Attorney General and the President use their power, over Congress, to increase deportations they are not deporting Europeans, Asians, or other immigrants.  They are deporting Latinos.  So while the rhetoric in the GOP may be against illegal immigrants, this current Administration is effectively doing the cleansing of America by deporting Latinos, illegal and U.S. Citizens.

Additionally, when the “fast and furious” debacle came to light regarding the issuance of guns to Mexican Cartels, who were they aiming at?  Those who live along the border and are mainly Mexican, including U.S. Citizens.  Once again, the rhetoric of the GOP pales in comparison to what is being done against Latinos in this Administration.  The idea that the Attorney General would allow such a violent act against a group of people and believe that the guns would not be traced back to the Administration is negligent and contentious.  Latinos cannot begin to believe that a President and a “friend” to Latinos would commit such atrocities, but he has.  In using the laws and his Administration, this President has endangered families and Latinos who continue to view him as the leader of the free world.  What is even more deplorable is that Latino Democrats have not stood up to state that these actions are wrong and need to be remedied regardless of party loyalty.  These acts are wrong against Americans, Latinos, families, and the United States and all of its freedoms.    In fact, this Administration has failed the Latino Community because it lacks the interest and the understanding of what values are embodied within the community.

When Candidates like Newt Gingrich address the actual facts about food stamps stating that Americans have increased as recipients of this entitlement under the Obama Administration, Democrats cite this as racist. But they fail to address the fact that the largest number, of the population, who is receiving food stamps are white Americans not blacks. So why are they playing the race card?  If we ask what Latinos hope to gain under the Obama Administration, let’s look over the last three years, deportations, guns to cartels, cuts in education availability, and separation of families.

When those who attack the GOP as being anti-Latino because of rhetoric that looks to deport illegal immigrants, let us be clear about who is acting on these words.  Unlike that famous speech that then Sen. Barrack Obama delivered at the DNC in which he said, we are not a black American or white America, we are the United States of American.  He forgot to mention the Brown part of America, Latinos.

Of the four, only Newt Gingrich seemed to fully grasp that the root cause of our problem with illegal immigration is our broken legal immigration system, mentioning that Congress did not follow-up the 1986 immigration laws with sensible guest worker program reforms. Historically, whenever our immigration laws are in conflict with free market capitalism the result has been illegal immigration.

Mitt Romney claims Arizona’s e-verify law reduced undocumented workers, when in fact undocumented workers regularly circumvent e-verify by borrowing a real person’s name and social security number, rendering Romney’s statistics dubious. Romney and Santorum both praised the Joe Arpaio policing model, embodied as Arizona’s SB1070 law, introduced shortly after Arpaio was stripped of 287(g) street immigration enforcement authority due to pervasive racial profiling and not following program guidelines.

Arpaio’s policing model is a proven failure. Crime, particularly violent crime, has skyrocketed in areas patrolled by Arpaio due to massive diversion of resources to immigration enforcement, while crime rates fell everywhere else in Arizona. In one community alone, 432 sex crimes went uninvestigated due to lack of resources and leadership. The federal government already has the 287(g) program to empower state and local police to enforce immigration laws, and 287(g) is problem plagued, according to ICE’s Inspector General.

A recent DOJ investigation, using Arpaio’s own traffic stop records, found Latinos are 4-9 times more likely to be stopped by Sheriff’s deputies, and 20% of the stops lacked probable cause, in other words ‘driving while brown.’ Now Arpaio wants the rest of Arizona and nation to follow his failed policing model, throwing the civil rights of 50 million Hispanics ‘under the bus.’

The candidates claim Obama isn’t enforcing immigration laws, when in fact immigration law enforcement and deportations have dramatically stepped up, and our ‘deporter-in-chief’ sets new records for deportations. The immigration court system and detention facilities are already straining at capacity, so more immigration enforcement without addressing other aspects just worsens the problem, and damages whole sectors of our economy such as agriculture.

Ron Paul claims illegal immigration happens due to the welfare state, yet undocumented immigrants have been barred for decades from welfare, and numerous audits in multiple states consistantly failed to find a problem with undocumented immigrants collecting welfare. You’d think as a libertarian Paul would grasp that our current immigration system is a failed progressive solution, and free markets largely determine immigration levels, not government quotas. Ron Paul is clearly a ‘crypto-libertarian’ when it comes to immigration.

The best way to stop immigrants from crossing our borders seeking work in the U.S. is to provide them a line to stand in for visas. For most immigrants, there never was ‘a line to stand in’, but there are jobs here that most Americans don’t want. Newt Gingrich is the only one of the four who fully grasps the problem.

original

Our endorsement of Newt Gingrich for President has stirred some controversy, but I am confident our leadership team made the right decision. With the Minnesota and Colorado caucuses at hand, now is a good time to review the remaining candidates. Note that while we endorsed Newt Gingrich, any of the GOP candidates could do a better job than Barack Obama, the worst president in modern history!

We still see Newt as a strong electable candidate, for several reasons.

• Proven leadership experience as Speaker of the House. Newt was one of the primary authors of the very successful ‘Contract with America’ and worked closely with Ronald Reagan. Newt knows how to get things done in Washington, sometimes ‘breaking arms’ when necessary, but more often working across the aisle.
• Obama has a terrible record of hyper-partisanship, and no track record before or as president of working across the aisle. Obama’s awful job performance shows that experience leading large organizations does count.
• Mitt Romney has never held office in Washington, and his experience as governor of Massachusetts is not impressive. Romney has overplayed his business experience; investment bankers aren’t involved much in the management of the businesses where they acquire a an equity stake.
• Santorum was a U.S. Senator with no particular accomplishments of note or leadership roles.
• Ron Paul was in Congress for 23 years and only one bill passed into law. Ron Paul never held any leadership positions either, and his foreign policy stances are dangerously naive. All the best ideas in the world are useless if you can’t convince others to follow you and execute those ideas!
• Newt is a fairly consistent conservative, though he has strayed a couple of times over many years. By comparison, Mitt Romney has been ‘all over the map’ on abortion, climate change, government run health care (RomneyCare = ObamaCare), support for Ronald Reagan, immigration reform, etc.
• Rick Santorum is a conservative on social issues, but was a big government guy in the Senate. Ron Paul is ‘Dr. No’, opposed to just about everything. Unfortunately a leader can’t get anything done with others just be being opposed to everyone else.
• Newt’s willingness to stake out a centrist and pragmatic position on immigration is impressive. Immigration reform is a thorny issue that will require excellent leadership skills to develop a bipartisan solution. I don’t agree with Newt’s immigration solution, but his solution comes closest, and knowing Newt’s ability to get things done with Congress I am confident in the end we will have a workable solution.
• The other three Republican candidates as well as Obama seem unable to articulate anything resembling a workable solution, and Obama failed to even introduce immigration reform, and meanwhile deportations has set records. ‘Enforcement on steroids’ is not a workable solution, and is destroying sectors of our economy as well as ripping mixed-status families apart.
• During the only four years in my lifetime that we had a balanced budget, Newt Gingrich was speaker of the House! Obama has failed to even introduce a budget, and government expenditures have been authorized through omnibus spending bills and individual bills. Spending in Washington has clearly spiraled out of control, and needs decisive and experienced leadership to rein in spending and make painful cuts.

With our nation in dire straits, it’s critical our new president be prepared to lead from day one. There’s no time for ‘on the job’ training as President. We’ve been suffering from Obama’s inexperience for three years now!

Please join us in supporting Newt Gingrich in the upcoming Arizona primary!

Newt’s experience and proven leadership in breaking the long-standing New Deal alliance and executing the first ‘Contract with America’ aptly demonstrated Newt’s leadership skills and vision. Newt demonstrated he could be tough, yet work across-the-aisle to get things done. Working closely with Congress to ‘get the job done’ will be critical to fixing our broken economy.

Newt’s ability to learn and adapt has allowed him to learn from challenges he experienced as speaker, and personal failings. Claims that Newt was a failure as speaker are overblown. We recall from history how Lincoln experienced many challenges in his career, even outright failures, but each time he learned, bounced back, and grew into one of America’s greatest presidents.

We were impressed early in the primaries at Newt’s boldness in proposing immigration reform, an important issue for New Americans. Most pundits predicted Newt’s campaign would fold, but Newt stuck to his principled position and his popularity soon surged. Newt also founded the Americano, a bilingual news magazine, and has made considerable efforts to engage Latinos, recognizing the importance of this rapidly growing demographic to the future of the Republican Party.

In contrast, Mitt Romney unrealistically expects all undocumented immigrants to “return home and get to the back of the line”, without recognizing that for most there never was a line to stand in. We need practical solutions to our broken immigration system, not more ‘enforcement on steroids’ as we have now under our ‘deporter-in-chief.’

Mitt Romney also actively sought the endorsement of Joe Arpaio, then praised Kobach when he received that endorsement, though virtually all immigration laws Kobach helped pass were struck down as unconstitutional, costing taxpayers millions and fueling racism. Kobach’s prominent role in a known anti-immigrant hate group does not enhance Mitt’s stature among Latinos.

We reviewed Newt’s immigration reform position and recent comments on immigration in-depth, as immigration reform is a key issue for New Americans. The immigration plan in the 21st Century Contract with America is very good, except there is a lack of clarity regarding Official English. The ‘red card’ solution presented during debates, but not in the immigration plan, also has shortcomings, particularly the 25 year cut-off for consideration. It doesn’t take 25 years for an immigrant to develop roots.

Newt recently stated in a debate that he would end lawsuits seeking to end state immigration laws. We do not believe the federal government should ‘turn a blind eye’ towards state immigration efforts. A number of states passed laws, such as Arizona’s SB1070, that would lead to the odious practice of racial profiling, and some state bills last year would have redefined citizenship in clear violation of the U.S. Constitution.

Newt’s immigration plan represents a sincere effort at finding a solution, and though we disagree in some areas, we are confident Newt will work with Congress, business and industry, and the immigrant community to find a practical solution. We plan to actively work with Newt and help refine his immigration reform stance, in a way that is a more viable solution, and also more appealing to New American voters.

Original
# # # # #

About Us – Cafe Con Leche Republicans is a national organization of Republicans who welcome “New Americans”, defined as immigrants and family of recent immigrants. Our mission is to make America and the GOP, more welcoming to “New Immigrants” through political activism, “in-reach” and education within the Republican Party, and lobbying government to adopt more immigrant friendly policies. We also seek to bring more conservative and moderate “New Americans” to the Republican Party. These efforts will strengthen the GOP, and lead more Republicans to embrace welcoming policies for immigrants and their families. We have chapters in Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Arizona, Nevada, and California. Our members and leadership are predominantly Hispanic, though we define ourselves by mission and guiding principles, not ethnicity, and we welcome all who share our goals. Our leadership is 100% Republican.