Romney flip-flops on immigration

Romney's short dalliance with conservatism seems to already be dead.  Boy, no one could have predicted that one. NYT:

The Romney campaign appears to have begun shifting to the center on immigration, after staking out a position to the right of opponents like former Speaker Newt Gingrich and Gov. Rick Perry of Texas.

During the primary fight, Mr. Romney said he would veto the existing version of the Dream Act, or the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, which would grant illegal immigrants brought into the country as children by their parents a pathway to citizenship. He labeled it a magnet for illegal immigration. And he criticized Mr. Perry for granting young illegal immigrants in-state tuition to Texas universities.

On Thursday, campaign aides said Mr. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, was not referring to the most draconian portions of Arizona’s immigration law when he said during a debate that Arizona could be a model for the nation. He was referring specifically to the “E-Verify” measure that requires employers to check the legal status of job applicants electronically.

Last weekend, in a comprehensive list of advisers provided to The Boston Globe, the Romney campaign did not include Kris Kobach, the Kansas secretary of state and co-author of the Arizona immigration law. During the primary campaign, the Romney campaign had referred to Mr. Kobach as an “informal adviser.”

Condi Rice: "I don't know when immigrants became the enemy"

Nick Wing at Huffington Post:

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke on a variety of topics in front of a crowd at Duke University Tuesday night, offering a particular criticism of the nation's stance on immigration.

"That immigrant culture that has renewed us ... has been at the core of our strength," she said, according to the The Raleigh News & Observer. "I don't know when immigrants became the enemy."

I do. About the time a lot of immigrants stopped being white enough for the GOP.

Gay-immigrant-loving GOP sheriff hits Obama on immigration. Hypocrisy much?

Arizona's disgraced GOP Sheriff Paul Babeu has hit President Obama on his immigration policies in a new campaign ad released this week. The irony is not lost on those of us who also remember that this is the same border hawk who was exposed as being in a relationship with a male undocumented immigrant earlier this year.

Read more about Babeu's ad here.

Alabama having second thoughts on harsh immigration law

One can only hope that the state loses even more money to other states before they finalize realize the obnoxiousness of their actions. NY Times:

Nearly a year after enacting an immigration law that supporters describe as the toughest in the country, Alabama is considering major revisions to its immigration policies.

On Thursday, a sponsor of the law, State Representative Micky Hammon, proposed eliminating or altering several of its most controversial sections. The law, which enhances police authority to deal with illegal immigrants, is popular with most Alabamians but faced a backlash from civil liberties advocates and business leaders.

The law’s supporters said the changes would make it clearer, easier to enforce and less susceptible to legal challenges.

GOP Sen. Rubio proposes making Latinos some "other" class of legal non-citizens

Sounds like Rubio wants to make Latinos 3/5ths of an American. From a NYT editorial:

Mr. Rubio's idea to make it palatable to his party is to offer them legalization without citizenship. "You can legalize someone's status," he says, "without placing them on a path toward citizenship." He warns that if Dream Act youths became citizens, they could -- horrors -- someday sponsor family members to enter legally. This idea is nothing more than some newly invented third-class status -- not illegal, but not American.

It's the Dream Act without the dream and should be dismissed out of hand....The only Dream Act worth passing is simple. It tells high schoolers who want to make something of themselves, for the good of the country, to go ahead. Join the military or go to college and take your place as full-fledged citizens in the only country you know. That Republicans reject this shows how far they have strayed from American ideals of assimilation and welcome.

We call that "guest workers." And it's a lovely way to solidify a permanent underclass in this country for Latinos. What is he thinking?  (He's thinking he wants to be vice president in a political party that doesn't like Latinos who aren't Cuban.)

Only Marco Rubio could turn the Dream Act into the Ream Act.