Latino backlash against GOP immigration policy a gift to Demos

They also offer newly empowered Democrats with a gift-wrapped opportunity to press their advantage.

An exit poll of 1,215 Latino voters in eight states, including Texas, showed that in the midterm elections, 66.6 percent of Latino voters supported Democrats in congressional elections this year, while 28.7 percent supported Republicans.

The poll, released Friday by the William C. Velásquez Institute, showed that 17.8 percent of Latinos made their voting decisions based on immigration policy, compared with 3.4 percent in 2004.

So Latino voters noticed.

Still, the election results have not had much effect on the thinking of some Republicans. Last week, when state legislators began filing bills for the 2007 Texas legislative session, Rep. Leo Berman, R-Tyler, stepped right up and dropped in a couple of doozies.

House Bill 28 would limit the ability of American-born children of undocumented immigrants to receive licenses, jobs or benefits from Texas or political subdivisions of the state. Attending Texas public schools would be among the things they could not do.

Next in line came House Bill 29, which would place an 8 percent "money transmission fee" on cash sent from Texas to "certain foreign destinations," namely Mexico, Central and South America.

So if we make it harder to live and work in America and to send cash back to impoverished family members, maybe people will stop coming. Of course, we also could stop hiring them to run our farms and ranches, build our buildings and roads, and keep our economy humming for minimal compensation.

The new legislation may be no surprise coming from Berman, whose district is only 11.8 percent Hispanic, according to the Texas Legislative Council. Over time, redistricting has made it easier for lawmakers in safe districts to play to the fears of their constituents.

No greater proof of that exists than immigration policy, including the measure passed in the U.S. House last year that would have made it illegal to offer a drink of water to a thirsty man who just walked across the desert.

I call it the Good Samaritan provision.

Really, do you think our own Rep. Henry Bonilla would have voted for that one if Latinos hadn't been written out of his district by the tens of thousands?

Don't get me wrong about this. Immigration policies in America are hopelessly broken in many ways, including enforcement. And yet Mr. Berman's proposals fall somewhere short of constructive.

But if Republicans won't learn the lesson voters tried to offer, maybe the newly empowered Democrats in Congress can teach them — perhaps even defy the old adage that there's nothing to be learned from the second kick of a mule.

By embracing President Bush's immigration proposal — stronger enforcement and a guest worker program — Democrats might achieve the best of both worlds.

They could isolate the fear mongers from those who want to develop workable policies that aren't punitive, including a president with a history of polling well among Latinos.

And from a purely political standpoint, if the whole thing turned out to be a disaster, they would still have Bush to blame.