Raymond J. Keating: Republicans court defeat by opposing immigration

Add Newsday columnist Raymond J. Keating to a growing list of conservatives warning that being anti-immigration means political suicide for Republicans. He wrote Republicans court defeat by opposing immigration.

Clint Bollick and Linda Chavez have issued similar warnings.

Keating's evidence?

A poll for the the National Immigration Forum and the Manhattan Institute, 3 of 4 conservative/republican voters favor comprehensive immigration reform that includes beefed-up border security, allowing more foreigners to come for work and a path to legalization for undocumented workers.

President Bush ran as a pro-immigration conservative Republican in 2000 and 2004 and won. Congressional Republicans turned anti-immigrant in 2006 and lost.

Many of the anti-immigrant Republicans/conservatives claim the mantle of Reagan. Keating says that's hogwash. Not only is there nothing conservative or Republican about being anti-immigrant, but Reagan himself was distinctly pro-immigration.

So, if most Americans including conservative are for sensible immigration reform, who is responsible for the "anti-immigration tail wagging Republican policy: these days?

Keating believes it's a small but loud group spreading populist fears. I suspect he's referring to some of the people listed in the ¡Ya basta! Hall of Shame and their followers.