In Ohio, business leads the crusade for immigration reform
Adrian Torres uses a staple gun to secure the plastic covering on the framework of the greenhouses at Gilson Gardens in Perry November 15, 2013 preparing for the winter season. Farmers like Mark Gilson have added their voices to the call for reform of an outdated immigration system. He says it is getting harder and harder to get legal labor to do work historically done by immigrants. (John Kuntz / The Plain Dealer)
(John Kuntz )
Chris Gibbs is owner-operator of a grain and cattle farm in Maplewood, Ohio
There has never been a better time for conservatives to take meaningful action on immigration reform. It is an issue that encompasses core values conservatives hold dear -- job creation, economic growth, family values, work ethic, personal responsibility, enhancing national security and making government function properly. By leading instead of following on immigration reform, Republicans have a chance to demonstrate we have a party equipped to govern and solve problems, a key pillar of winning the White House in 2016.
America needs authentic contributions to its culture from many different sources, including the contributions that can be made by immigrants coming here for a better life. There is nothing more authentic than the idea of people coming to America, leaving something else behind and becoming American in the process.
Theodore Roosevelt put it this way in his fourth message to Congress in 1904, a precursor to our modern-day State of the Union:
"There is no danger of having too many immigrants of the right kind. It makes no difference from what country they come. If they are sound in body and in mind, and, above all, if they are of good character [...] then we should welcome them with cordial hospitality."
More Republicans should embrace Roosevelt's posture, instead of taking a short-sighted or downright hateful attitude when debating immigration policy. We need pragmatic, conservative Republican candidates who want to govern and solve problems, including tackling immigration reform. That goes for 2016, especially, as our Hispanic families continue to make up a larger portion of the electorate.
From an economic standpoint, immigrants are a secret weapon at a time when other nations are increasing their competitiveness. The smartest thing we can do is to attract and retain as much of the available intelligent, thoughtful, creative, and driven talent as we can possibly get our hands on. Why educate the world's brightest at America's best universities just to send them away to compete against us from abroad? We need the world's sharpest minds working for America, not against it.
Politically, it is a mistake to reject the participation and enthusiasm of people who simply lack the good fortune of being born here. A "Partnership for a New American Economy" study found that immigrants tend to be more politically conservative on many issues than Americans as a whole. Contrary to what many carnival barkers would have you believe, American immigrants hold dear their work ethic, family values, personal responsibility and their love of country. Consider it the zeal of the convert -- one who leaves behind the security of home and history to come here is probably one who enthusiastically embraces the American ideal.
If you look at the changing demographic patterns, as well as the results of recent elections, it is incontrovertible: Republicans need those voters on our side. We should never forget how Ronald Reagan won the presidency in 1984 with nearly 40 percent of the Latino vote. He reached out to Latinos and demonstrated how their values were Republican values. We have all read versions of Reagan's quip, "Latinos are Republicans -- they just don't know it yet."ii
In 2012, President Barack Obama won Ohio by 166,000 votes. By 2016, some studies suggest that Ohio will have added about 54,000 new voters of Hispanic and Asian descent -- some will be immigrants, others the American-born children and grandchildren of immigrants.
If we quietly accede to the extreme voices who purport to speak under our party banner, Republicans shouldn't be surprised if Democrats extend their gains on Election Day, especially in key states with even higher immigrant populations than Ohio.
In the end, any presidential candidate who hasn't reached out beyond comfortable, gerrymandered Republican districts on immigration in this modern global economy isn't going to get the White House -- period, tilt, game over. Mitt Romney in 2012 won about the same percentage of white voters that George H. W. Bush did in 1988, but the disparity in the Electoral College makes clear that if Republicans don't get it right on immigration, we could well be doomed to another presidential loss.
Chris Gibbs is owner-operator of a 560-acre grain and cattle farm in Maplewood, Ohio, and former chairman of the Shelby County Republican Party in western Ohio.