LOS ANGELES (By Associated
Press) July 12, 2006 White House political strategist Karl Rove said
Tuesday that the highly charged immigration debate has "clouded" the views
of some Americans, leading them to dismiss the importance of immigrants and
their contribution to the nation's success.
"Everything that this country is, everything that we have achieved,
everything that we hold, everything that we promise, is because we are a
nation of diversity, brought together by immigration, and sharing a common
dream," Rove told members of the nation's largest Hispanic civil rights
group, the National Council of La Raza.
Alluding to the deadlock over immigration
reform on Capitol Hill, Rove said the debate had "clouded the views of some
people in America and led them to fail to understand that Hispanics, and all
immigrants, are real Americans."
"It is vital that our county not fall into this trap," he said.
In a 20-minute speech, Rove gave an energetic endorsement for President
Bush's plan to curb illegal immigration, which calls for stricter border
enforcement along with a way for those who have been in the United States
for some time to become citizens. That stance has Bush at odds with many
Republicans in Congress, who favor a harder-line approach.
Rove was applauded politely by most of the audience, and he ignored a
smattering of anti-war protesters who were escorted from the cavernous hall.
La Raza, based in Washington, D.C., says it has 40,000 members along with a
network of several hundred affiliated community groups that focus on civil
rights, immigration, education, health and other issues. The left-leaning
group is supportive of Bush's call for a path to citizenship for illegals
who have been in the country for a number of years.
La Raza's meeting in Los Angeles took place not far from where hundreds of
thousands of illegal immigrants and their supporters demonstrated last
spring against the House GOP immigration reform bill calling for stricter
enforcement.
In his speech, Rove talked about his family's Norwegian heritage, saying he
kept a picture of his great-grandfather, an immigrant, on his office wall
"to remind me of the promise of our great county."
Rove said that immigrants throughout the nation's history suffered a
backlash of "public distortions," and he saw a parallel between the
experience of other immigrant groups in decades gone by "and what we are
seeing today."
"We need to remember the shared values that draw men and women to our
shores, our that drew our parents or our grandparents or our
great-grandparents before us," he said.
Rove's appearance comes at a time when both political parties have been
vigorously courting Hispanic voters, the fastest-growing ethnic segment of
the U.S. population.
Bush has urged Republicans to broaden the party's appeal to Latino voters to
help keep Democrats to the political minority for years to come. But GOP
efforts to reach out to Hispanics are being unsettled by House
conservatives, whose proposed crackdowns on illegal immigrants and
English-only policies could alienate the very voters Bush wants the party to
pursue.
Rove ticked off enforcement elements of the president's proposal, but added,
"All these measures will come to naught without a temporary worker program.
... It's not enough to say send them home."
He also warned that critics against were confusing the debate with
catchwords, rather than solutions.
"Too many simplify the problem into one word, "amnesty," Rove said. "In an
issue this vital, we cannot allow words to be misused."
In a statement, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said Rove
"is the one person most responsible for the anti-immigrant platform being
adopted by congressional Republicans around the country.
"In 2002 it was African-Americans who were scapegoated with the use of the
anger point code word 'quota,' and in 2004 it was gay Americans. Now, ahead
of the 2006 elections, it's immigrants. Democrats will not scapegoat any
group of people to win elections," Dean said.
