Senator Dick Lugar has withdrawn his support for the DREAM Act, which would grant a path to citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants brought here before the age of 16, arguing that the president's speech on immigration reform "politicized" the issue:
Lugar's spokesman said Lugar did not join Democrats in reintroducing the federal legislation to help children of illegal immigrants - known as the DREAM Act, or Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors - because Democrats have politicized the issue.
"President Obama's appearance in Texas yesterday framed immigration as a divisive election issue instead of attempting a legitimate debate on comprehensive reform," said spokesman Mark Helmke. "Ridiculing Republicans was clearly a partisan push that effectively stops a productive discussion about comprehensive immigration reform and the DREAM Act before the 2012 election."
The actual reason Lugar is withdrawing support is that he's facing a primary challenger, but of course he can't simply say that. This sort of sour grapes argument doesn't make sense on its own moral terms--even if you believe the president is acting inappropriately, that doesn't bear on whether or not the hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who didn't have a choice in coming here and are poised to go to college or join the military deserve a path to citizenship. The DREAM Act is another idea of Republican origin that has become toxic since Obama took office and expressed support for passing it.
Lugar's reversal is similar to that of Senator Lindsey Graham, who abandoned his own comprehensive immigration reform bill a year ago after Senate Democrats proposed bringing it up before cap-and-trade. Like Lugar, Graham was going out on a limb working with Democrats, and accusations of "politicization" provided a convenient exit for a bill he was likely to pay for with Republican primary voters.
The difference is though, that Lugar actually came through on the DREAM Act last year, joining two other Republicans in voting for it during the lame-duck session. Democrats failed to unite their caucus and come up with the necessary 60 votes despite his support, and with the bill unlikely to make it through the House anyway, there's little political reason for Lugar to put himself at further risk. By the same token though, it's hard to see what he gets out of doing this now having already voted for the bill. It's hard to see how this improves his chances, but it will certainly dampen the spirits of the undocumented immigrant students who believed he was on their side.
