TIME – Beltway Republicans who think an immigration-reform bill is going to bring Latino voters to the GOP need to think again, says Kris Kobach — not that the insiders are in much of a mood to listen to him these days. The Kansas conservative is a driving force behind efforts to crack down on undocumented immigrants, and some analysts blame him and his movement for the shellacking Mitt Romney received as the party’s standard bearer in November. Is this the man who got Barack Obama re-elected?
“It is a gross oversimplification of the issue to say that Republicans just need to be in favor of amnesty and suddenly we will win half the Latino vote,” Kobach said during a recent interview with TIME in the spacious office he occupies as Kansas’ Secretary of State. “And it’s an insult to Latino voters, who actually make their decisions for all sorts of complex reasons: the economy, social policy, the way the party’s message is conveyed.” [Read More]
