On Sunday’s episode of CBS’ Face The Nation, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C) made it clear to any doubtful Republican primary voters that he stands with the Democratic Party on immigration.
During the program, Graham slammed 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney for supporting a policy of “self-deportation,” commending Romney for later admitting that embracing such an idea was a “mistake.”
“You’re not going to self-deport 11 million people,” Graham explained. “You’re not going to be able to do that. I’m not going to be a Republican nominee willing to try to do that. I hope every candidate on the Republican side will follow Mitt Romney’s lead and admit it was a mistake to embrace self-deportation. And I hope self-deportation is in our rearview mirror as a party, because if it is not, we will lose in 2016.”
He made this claim despite evidence from Arizona that laws encouraging self-deportation do actually work.
A study done by BBVA Bancomer Research found that between June and September 2010, 100,000 illegal immigrants left the state of Arizona, over 23,000 of whom moved back to Mexico. Illegals self-deported following Arizona’s partial adoption of the law S.B. 1070, which allows police to determine someone’s immigration status during a “lawful stop, detention or arrest.”
There were similar results in Alabama after the state passed a law cracking down on illegal immigrants.
In contrast to Graham, former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) and Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.) are promoting a position of reducing legal immigration to protect the wages of American workers.
“To me, they’re just looking at a different world than I am,” Graham said. “We’ll be down to two workers for every retiree in the next 20 years. We’re going to need more legal immigration. I hope we’ll embrace a comprehensive approach that’s realistic and humane.”
