Trump’s immigration agenda forces California GOP candidates to navigate a tricky course
Rep. Mimi Walters started last week on message. On Monday, the Irvine Republican tweeted a news story about the tax cuts she helped pass, a central theme of her reelection campaign and her party’s effort to keep control of the House after the November midterms.
Less than a day later, Walters felt the need to pivot to President Trump’s crisis du jour: Audio of wailing children and photos of kids in detention shelters had sparked bipartisan outrage over Trump’s policy of separating migrant children from parents arrested for crossing the border illegally.
“As a mother, I strongly oppose the separation of children from their parents at the border,” Walters posted on Twitter.
Trump changed his mind Wednesday with an executive order. But reuniting thousands of children with their parents could be a months-long saga, and Trump’s new policy – detaining families together – is problematic legally and politically.
As Trump signals he’s unlikely to back off an immigration agenda designed to whip up support with his base, he’s creating more obstacles for vulnerable GOP members like Walters who must win over wavering coastal suburbanites and Latino-heavy farm towns while avoiding Volunteers walk dozens of women and their children to a relief center following their release from Customs and Border Protection on Friday in Mcallen, Texas.
attacks from their Democratic opponents. Coverage of California politics
Until recently, it seemed most candidates from both parties were content to concentrate on “kitchen table” economic issues this year – Republicans on the effects of Trump’s tax cut package and Democrats on GOP votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
But even before the latest crisis bloomed, voters were paying attention to immigration. In a May poll by the Public Policy Institute of California, more of the state’s likely voters – 19 percent – identified immigration as a top concern over jobs and the economy, which 15 percent mentioned. That’s a switch from May 2017, when the economy got top billing.
The issue has vexed both parties for decades, but it hasn’t often become a central
issue in national congressional elections. But Trump’s hard-line rhetoric in 2016 drew new voters to the Republican Party and helped him win.
“He keeps coming back to it and keeps coming back to it very forcefully,” said Roberto Suro, a professor of public policy at USC.
That’s created headaches for House members such as Rep. Jeff Denham (R-turlock), who’s tried for years to make progress on immigration reform. It’s a matter of survival for Denham, who represents a district where Hillary Clinton won in 2016, Democrats hold a slight advantage in voter registration and Latinos make up nearly 30 percent of the electorate.
A couple of weeks ago, Denham dropped a risky effort to force a series of votes on immigration bills, one of which would
have provided a path to citizenship for “Dreamers” brought to the U.S. as children, and instead signed onto a bill crafted exclusively by Republicans. He was selling that package hard when the controversy over family separation exploded.
“Not only is this current policy unacceptable, but the optics of pulling kids away from their parents is horrible for any party,” he told CNN, stopping short of criticizing the president.
His opponent, Democrat Josh Harder, seized on the issue. “Every person in our district who sees a kid being separated from their parents, who sees some of the horrific things that are happening, that’s pretty motivating,” Harder said in an interview. His campaign plans to continue hammering Denham on what he calls “hot air and press releases.”