Sen. John Cornyn, who was open to immigration reform when Bush was president but accused the Obama administration of "holding the border hostage" despite having higher deportation numbers than his predecessor, says Latinos should blame Democrats for not passing an immigration-reform bill (via Andrea Nill):
They [Democrats] have controlled Congress for four years, have occupied the White House for two years, and yet they've broken every promise to lead on immigration reform.
Democrats certainly deserve some responsibility, although the filibuster is probably most responsible for the absence of a comprehensive immigration-reform bill. But given that Cornyn was never negotiating in good faith, it's ridiculous that he's now blaming Democrats for "failing to lead" on the issue. He did the same thing last September. At the time, I wrote that the Republican strategy on immigration reform had only two simple steps:
Step one: Obstruct all efforts at immigration reform, accuse the president of holding the border "hostage" even as he deports a record number of illegal immigrants.
Step two: Remind everyone how the president broke his promise to pass immigration reform.
It didn't work in November, but it might in the future.
