Illegal Immigration at Fault?

Now that the election is over, we can anticipate oodles of celebration…and yodels of finger-pointing. Who’s to blame for McCain’s loss? Sarah Palin? African-Americans successfully voting for Obama? Latinos failing to vote for their strongest advocate of immigrant rights? McCain’s own stance on illegal immigration?

Election day results: exit polls indicate Obama carried the Latino voters 66% to 32% nationwide. Good for Obama! Nevertheless, this particular victory has everyone wondering not about what Obama did to win it, but about what McCain did or didn’t do to lose the support of this coveted demographic group.

Perhaps, McCain’s silence on comprehensive immigration reform for the bulk of this presidential campaign can explain his loss of support from the Latino voting bloc. Or conversely, McCain’s support of illegal immigration legalization may have been—counterintuitively—the source of his woes. By pushing for his brand of immigration reform, McCain inflamed the violent and vocal opposition of many in his party. But while these Republicans were galvanized by McCain, their own raucous cries may very well have repulsed the Latino bloc from voting Republican this election.

Yes, more Latinos voting Democrat over Republican may explain McCain’s loss of support, but I don’t think immigration reform is the reason.

I’m sure you’re all aware of the recent financial crisis. Perhaps, you are also aware Latinos comprise a disproportionately high number of the working class. On average, they have more children but earn less income than the average American. They work primarily in construction and service industries, among the first and worst affected in the economic collapse. In California, Latinos faced a 2.1% increase in unemployment from July 2007 to July 2008, whereas non-Latino Whites saw a 1.2% increase.

Naturally, the Latinos are fretting about the state of our economy, and they, like most of America, blamed the Republican party in power when the fundamentals of our economy disintegrated. Regardless of his championing of illegal immigrant naturalization, Republican John McCain couldn't have garnered much support on this end of the socioeconomic boulevard.

McCain need not blame his stance on illegal immigration for costing him the Latino vote, let alone the election. He hardly held a stance during the campaign. Either way, dissenting Republicans held their noses and voted for the Republican candidate. Latino citizens cared too much about their mortgages to vote for the Republican candidate. And illegal immigrants – they didn’t vote.