How the GOP’s rhetoric on immigration created a demagogue

How the GOP’s rhetoric on immigration created a demagogue

By Amanda Sakuma at MSNBC

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/how-the-gops-rhetoric-immigration-created-demagogue

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Few things united the GOP nationwide more in recent years than fierce opposition to President Obama’s executive actions on immigration. Governors from 26 states — more than half of the country — banded together to take the feds to court over the programs. And their efforts largely paid off. The programs are currently tied up in a legal battle awaiting a final decision from the Supreme Court in June.

Thursday marks the anniversary to a day that never happened — the kick-off to the central immigration program in Obama’s executive package, known as DAPA. It would have granted work authorization to nearly 3.5 million undocumented immigrants who have children that are U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents.

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The GOP’s victory in stalling the programs, nearly indefinitely, resulted from a hard-fought and sustained campaign. But it’s also what began to severely fracture the party. Members of Congress were deeply divided over how to address Obama’s executive actions. Some even threatened to shut down a vital agency as leverage to dismantle the programs, triggering party infighting that dragged on for weeks.

Their rhetoric rarely lingered on the substance of the programs. The word “amnesty” was thrown around frequently, but the bulk of their attacks were aimed directly at Obama. Republican leaders blanketed the airwaves, calling the president “lawless” and his actions “executive overreach.”



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