The Pew Research Hispanic Trends Center dropped a bombshell into Florida politics on Tuesday, releasing a report which shows the illegal immigrant population growing.
The number of illegals in Florida rose from 875,000 in 2009 to 925,000 in 2012. Only New Jersey outpaced Florida in the growth of illegal aliens.
This is bad news for the Republicans who run the state government in Tallahassee. There isn’t much appetite in Tallahassee to do a crackdown on illegals. The outgoing House leadership even expanded in-state tuition for the children of illegal aliens in Florida high schools. But, despite this, the GOP leadership can be excused if they want the Pew report to go away.
Rick Scott beat Bill McCollum in the 2010 primary by running to his right on many issues, including immigration. Scott trashed McCollum for not using E-Verify and called on Florida to enact an Arizona-style immigration law. But Scott’s done next to nothing to bring an Arizona-style law to Florida and plenty of other state Republicans like Jeb Bush and Connie Mack have been fiercely critical of the Arizona immigration law.
Like Common Core, immigration is an issue that divides many elected Republicans with the GOP base, especially conservatives who are more likely to be active and frequently vote in the primaries. The news that illegal immigration is on the rise in Florida, and Tallahassee’s failure to address the problem, will only widen that gap.
Republicans will be going after Barack Obama as he readies executive orders granting amnesty to up to as many as 5 million illegals, but the GOP leadership in Tallahassee has done next to nothing. There are plenty of Republicans in Florida who go right on the issue and it does help candidates in most primaries. Just ask Scott and McCollum. But not all Florida Republicans are there and even some of the big winners in the elections earlier this month, like Carlos Curbelo, have drawn fire from the right on immigration.
Scott might be able to skate away on this issue but plenty of Republicans still on the rise could be impacted by illegal immigration. Take Adam Putnam and new House Speaker Steve Crisafulli. They are both tied to agriculture which relies more on illegals than other parts of the economic sector. Conservative pressure on illegal immigration is not something they want to face.
With Obama readying to offer amnesty and the new Pew report, illegal immigration — which had been flying under the radar — will spring up again. That’s not good news for the Republicans in Tallahassee who have avoided the issue.
Tallahassee political writer Jeff Henderson wrote this analysis exclusively for Sunshine State News.
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