Immigration Reform: Self-Interest or Pragmatism? [Opinion]

US Senator Lindsey Graham speaks reporters following a vote on the immigration bill on June 27, 2013 at the US Capitol in Washington, DC. (L-R) US Senator John McCain, Michael Bennet, and Chuck Schumer. The Senate voted 68-32 to pass the historic immigration bill. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

 

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All I need to know about politics, I learned from a conversation I once had with an old PRI party operative in Mexico. The main variable at play in every politician's decisions, he told me, is not whether a law benefits the country, or even if it's in the interest of the politician's constituency: "The true politician only asks one question," the man told me. ''How will this affect me?' Politicians, you see, are animals built on self-interest, focused solely on survival."

This is a lesson immigration reform enthusiasts would be wise to keep in mind.

After Thursday's historic vote in the Senate, many applauded the 14 Republican senators who supported the bill. The praise was well earned. Still one has to ask: how many of those Republicans actually risked their individual political careers by supporting immigration reform?

Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

US Senator Lindsey Graham speaks reporters... View Full Size

Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

US Senator Lindsey Graham speaks reporters following a vote on the immigration bill on June 27, 2013 at the US Capitol in Washington, DC. (L-R) US Senator John McCain, Michael Bennet, and Chuck Schumer. The Senate voted 68-32 to pass the historic immigration bill.

South Carolina's Lindsey Graham sure did. He faces reelection in 2014 in a state where his outspoken support for immigration reform will not be popular. Still, Graham defended his position memorably: "I don't want to stop being a Senator to be a Senator," he said. Tennessee's Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker have both received thinly veiled Tea Party threats. And then there is Marco Rubio, he who is that most uncommon of Republicans: a conservative who just put everything on the line for a progressive cause. But Rubio's motives are exceptional: as a matter of fact, without immigration reform, he's got no path to the White House, at least not in the short term.

But perhaps it's more interesting to think of Republican senators who voted against the bill. The fact that an overwhelming majority of them didn't find a clear electoral incentive to support the legislation bodes ill for the immediate future of immigration reform. In my view, this bears at least two crucial implications.

First, a large number of Republican legislators believe immigration reform is harmful for their individual careers. And second, and perhaps more revealing: the lack of Republican support in the Senate shows just how poorly the party really understands the current and future weight of the Latino vote in America. The senators who decided to reject the "Gang of Eight" bill did so to protect themselves while downplaying the role Hispanics will have in the national stage, not only in 2016 but further down the road.