No Rest for Weary Immigration Enforcement Advocates; Gang of Eight Returns in 2017

Four months before the November 8 presidential election, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) predicted that a huge turnout among Hispanic voters would doom the Republican Party.
 
Never mind that it’s highly unusual when a three-term incumbent overtly undermines his party by gleefully forecasting its demise. The more important question is why any responsible media outlet would quote Graham’s immigration-related opinions because, since 2003 when he first assumed office, he’s been unfailingly inaccurate about immigration.
 
In 2013, for example, Graham told NBC Latino that Republicans would be “toast” if the party didn’t pass the Gang of Eight comprehensive immigration reform bill. In the following year’s mid-term election, however, Republicans recaptured the Senate, increased their House majority and proved that Graham, one of the eight from the Gang, had poor analytical judgment.
 

Putting the band back together: Expect the Gang of Eight sequel in 2017.

Now Graham is back spewing nonsense again, this time repeating the often-debunked theory that Hispanic voters represent the key to electoral success. Supposedly because it would appeal to Hispanics, Graham promised to, immediately after the election, bring back the unpopular, unsuccessful Gang of Eight bill. Graham said that he would actively recruit colleagues from both sides of the aisle to make it work.
 
Most election stories between now and November will identify Latinos as the crucial voting block. But according to The Upshot, The New York Times’ data-driven venture that focuses on politics and economics, the more important voters to capture are older, white, middle class, working Americans of which there are many more than previous exit polling estimated. The Upshot also found that “Latino voters did not put Mr. Obama over the top, as many argued in the days after Mr. Obama’s re-election,” and that the 2012 electorate was 72 percent white, non-Hispanic.
 
No one has the slightest clue who the November winner will be. But given the consistency with which comprehensive immigration reform reappears on the political landscape, it’s certain that someone, either Graham or another amnesty advocate, will push for an amnesty bill.