Doing Nothing on Immigration

By Dick Morris
FrontPageMagazine.com | September 13, 2006

This column was co-written by Eileen McGann.

The decision by the Republican leadership not even to try to pass immigration reform before the election smacks of punting when they should have gone for a touchdown. America is begging for tough immigration reform and looking to the Republican Party to exercise its traditional role of leadership in law and order issues. But even without a real threat of a Democratic filibuster, the Republican Party has tripped over its own feet and given up its attempt to meet the needs of the country and of its constituents.

The Republican failure to pass immigration reform despite controlling both houses and the presidency reminds one of Hillary’s inability even to get healthcare reform reported out of committee despite enjoying a similar advantage in 1994.

Republican voters are not likely to forgive GOP ineptitude and failure. With a 30-vote margin in the House and 10 in the Senate, they will find the lack of action inexplicable.

The release this week of “Border War,” a film produced by the conservative grassroots group Citizens United, brings the issue home in a way that voters in general and Republicans in particular will not forget. One can only hope that congressional Republicans who have failed the country will watch the movie and reflect on their missed opportunity. The film will have very wide distribution, by DVD and in at least 125 theaters throughout the country. (Disclosure: We are working with Citizens United on a film due out this spring on our old friend Hillary Rodham Clinton but we had no involvement in “Border War”.)

With more than 10 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., the GOP failure to pass a bill is hard to understand.