The Tug of War on Immigration

Immigration policies played an important role in the 2010 midterm elections, specifically with Latino voters dissatisfied with the extent of action taken on immigration reform. Latinos for Reform aired ad campaigns discouraging Latino voters from casting their ballots—for surely, this was the one way of having their voices heard, by abstaining from voting. The Republican group urged, “Latinos, don’t be taken for granted. This November, DON'T VOTE.”

Elections were particularly close in California, Colorado, and Nevada, all of which have a strong Latino presence in state, and the candidates were forced to dig deeper for votes in order to swing the numbers into their favor. For Republicans, this election could have been a potentially bad one if the Hispanic electorate voted Democrat as they typically do. Granted, many are unhappy with the current stagnancy under Obama, but this by no means guarantees a switch of votes—only, at the best, a decrease of votes. So instead of pulling the Latino electorate out to the booths to vote red, why not stop them from voting at all?

Obama, on the other front, attempted to ease the frustrations by making more promises to get more votes out. “I just want a little bit of support so that I can actually get this [reform] passed.” If the Republicans have their way, however, Obama’s hopes for the DREAM Act will soon be trashed. But to have their way—that is, to remove each of the 10.3 illegal immigrants from the states—the project is going to cost around $65 billion.

With the Democrats retaining control of the Senate and the Republicans now controlling the House, who will win?