The Republican challenge

In the Growth and Opportunity Project report, the GOP establishes that immigration is the determining issue to garner the support of the Latino electorate. The project sets forth 15 specific recommendations to bring the party’s traditional message to this community.

Without a doubt, this is a huge task that will require great effort to make the 180-degree turn necessary to go from the harassment of self-deportation to offering a path to citizenship.

Some lawmakers are making this turn without problems. However, as Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Paul Rand (R-Ky.) have shown, it is easier—or less risky—to talk up the virtues of immigration to a Latino audience than at the CPAC conservative conference, where they are some of the stars.

For others, it is harder. For example, there is Rep. Don Young (R-Ark.), who recently recalled the “wetbacks” who used to work for his father. The problem goes beyond qualifiers, however. Like Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), who compared immigrants to cattle and dogs, Young tried to explain that there is a reasonable logic behind his offensive expression. It is understandable that GOP leaders, whose priority is to seek Latino support by following the Project’s recommendations, got upset at Young.In reality, to earn the trust of Latinos, a deeper change is necessary. The anti-immigrant sentiment that took years to build must be eradicated and replaced with a new sensitivity. The big challenge is how to remove what is rooted in the “old way” of thinking and tackle the new force of the Tea Party—whose base does not think anything needs to change and qualifies any attempt to legalize immigrants as “amnesty” in order to destroy it.

As we have said before, Latino voters benefit when parties compete for their attention. That is why it is necessary to recognize the value of the Republican attempt to approach Latinos, even when the motivation is strictly political. Some lawmakers are working on this effort, following the Project’s advice. However, to really earn Latino support, there needs to be a deeper change in the way of thinking and not just in strategy.