I‘ve written before that House Democrats seem headed for a painful immigration debate that exposes the fault lines between the moderates elected in 2006 — who want to protect their seats by passing legislation to get tough on illegal immigration — and the lliberals and latinos who favor ‘earned legalization.’ Well, it looks like the depth of the split is already on display in the subcommittee that funds immigration enforcement:
Congratulations Sam Farr, on being the first to prove Godwin’s Law. But perhaps you ought to direct your anger at Chairman Price, who seems eager to see ICE get tougher on the illegal immigrants who are the target of worksite enforcement. Your message might get a more receptive hearing if the man who funds ICE wasn’t sending the opposite signal. Chairman Price offers an instructive lesson of how strong the feeling is about illegal immigration right now. He represents the research triangle of North Carolina, and taught at Duke. He has a career ‘F’ grade from the anti-illegal immigration group Numbers USA, and does equally poorly on the FAIR scorecard. But in the current political climate, even he wants to be seen as doing more to fight illegal immigration. This incident presages what will likely be a nasty and unavoidable fight within the party later this year.
