Democrats are on the wrong side of the immigration issue

Jonathon Tobin:

This week the Senate held a hearing that highlighted the crimes committed by illegal immigrants that had avoided deportation because officials in self-declared “sanctuary cities” refused to hand them over or notify federal officials of their presence. The father of Kathryn Steinle, a young San Francisco woman who was murdered by an illegal immigrant who had been freed by city officials complying with its sanctuary rules, asked senators to support a bill defunding those municipalities that refuse to cooperate with immigration authorities. Yet what was interesting about the hearing is not so much the slim chances of the bill becoming law. Rather, it was the way Democrats and the liberal media did their best to ignore the issue. Listening to activists that view the focus on sanctuary cities as a thinly veiled effort to demonize immigrants, the political left is still convinced that the issue not only works to their advantage but also will help ensure victory in 2016. But their tone-deaf response to grieving parents like Jim Steinle betrays a flaw in their political strategy. If the debate shifts from foolish talk about “self-deportation” to reasonable efforts to enforce the law, immigration stops being about respecting Hispanic voters and starts becoming a liability for a party that is all in on amnesty for illegals.

Most Americans are sympathetic to immigrants and rightly despise nativist rhetoric. To the extent that Republicans become identified with anti-immigrant attitudes, it will not only hurt their ability to win the votes of Hispanics but also alienate many other voters. But the Steinle murder and similar crimes that were highlighted in the Senate hearing shifts the conversation away from prejudice and instead illustrates the problem of a policy stance that treats the law as a detail to be flouted at will.
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Their pander to Hispanic voters is misplaced.  People who are already voters are by definition not threatened by the enforcement of immigration law.  And they want to be safe too, which means any sensible person would want to deal with felons rather than turning them lose the way San Francisco did.