Causecast

by MAEGAN CARBERRY, Contributing Writer

Te gusta los political posturings de Newt Gingrich? The former Speaker of the House and the GOP’s maybe-if-Sarah-Mitt-and-Mike-completely-drop-the-ball 2012 presidential contender is stepping up his Spanish skills in an effort to woo the hearts, minds and votes of the country’s emerging Latino majority, according to a new post at The Daily Beast.

Benjamin Sarlin, formerly of the left-leaning Talking Points Memo, writes this morning in “New Gringo” (bonus points for that headline!) of Gingrich:

“Last week he appeared on Spanish-language network Univision to talk about Sonia Sotomayor, immigration, and Honduran politics. You might have heard about it on Gingrich’s Spanish-language Twitter feed, which included a link to the video, embedded on his Spanish-language Web site.”

Sure, many will consider these actions to be calculating and laughable (especially the Spanish language feed’s whopping 80 Twitter followers), but the Democrats, the party that is supposedly predisposed to diversity, are not making much progress either. Despite any bump they may have achieved with the President’s “wise” selection of Sonia Sotomayor as our next Supreme Court Justice, an op-ed in yesterday’s Washington Post brought to my attention by Republican strategist and CNN contributor Leslie Sanchez notes that Obama’s efforts on immigration are insufficient and not likely to resonate in the Latino community. Coming off of last week’s emotionally draining confirmation hearings, in which decades-old debates about affirmative action, racial justice and equality of opportunity were highly visible media talking points, it’s interesting to look at what’s happening on the ground. We can talk about all the symbolic gestures we want and I’m sure both parties will make plenty of them, but immigration policy is going to be at the heart of voter allegiance going forward and it’s time for this issue to rise to the level of our flailing economy and ever-increasing battlefronts abroad as a national priority.

Former foreign secretary of Mexico and NYU professor Jorge G. Castaneda and Immigration Work’s Tamar Jacoby write in WaPo:

"This year, in contrast to 2006, organized labor and many Latino advocates are thinking about slicing up the reform package and moving forward with a piecemeal approach: a bill that legalizes the unauthorized immigrants already in the United States — call them the ‘stock’ — but makes no provision for those who will want to work north of the border in years ahead, the future ‘flow.’

But this view is shortsighted. Just as it would have been a mistake in a Republican era to pass an expanded temporary worker program but leave out legalization and a path to citizenship, so, too, would it be a mistake now to legalize immigrants who are here without creating a way for future workers to enter the United States legally."

It’s unfortunate that sound bites are burying the important policy decisions that are being made on issues that directly impact the Latino community. Speaking Spanish and community dialogue is an important entry point to the conversation that will allow data-gathering to inform effective policies, but beyond that the general public needs to be educated about the real trends behind immigration cycles. All we ever get is Lou Dobbs-style rants cloaked in racism and vague assumptions like we saw last week with opponents of Sotomayor, many of whom never even cited an inappropriate decision she’s made in their attacks of her qualifications.

I recommend checking out the ACLU’s Immigration Rights Project, the SEIU’s Immigration news page, Voto Latino, and the Pew Hispanic Center for compelling information beyond the daily dominant headlines. Since I tend to view things from a progressive perspective, I also recommend following @LeslieSanchez on Twitter, who has opened my mind to a broader conservative dialogue on the issues.

Photo by ajagendorf25, flickr