A “border deal that actually reduced the flow of illegal immigration, that would be good for [President Biden] politically.”
That is Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), giving away the GOP’s cynical game on fixing the border. Cramer said this without a hint of shame in explaining his opposition to immigration reform.
In Cramer’s mind, taking positive action on immigration hurts the most likely Republican candidate set to run against Biden, Donald Trump.
To repeat, it seems congressional Republicans are holding back support for an immigration bill that solves a painful human crisis at the border simply because Trump doesn’t want to give Biden a political victory in an election year.
Cramer is one of the many Republicans who go on rightwing radio, internet and television shows to rail about the need to fix the border. And their attacks have had an impact. A CBS/You Gov poll taken this month found that 70 percent of Americans disapprove of Joe Biden’s handling of the immigration issue.
The GOP alarm over Biden’s handling of the border resulted in immigration rising to be the number one issue for Republican voters in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary.
Fox News polling showed 41 percent of Republican voters in both states ranked “immigration” as their “most important issue.”
A month before the voting started, a national poll by Fox had the........