The Boston bombings may not be the only complications for the advocates of comprehensive immigration reform – which its supporters call necessary to rationalize the American immigration system and its opponents call code for amnesty. However, one overlooked aspect of the debate is how the planned path to citizenship will create a political power shift to the left, which is increasingly skeptical of the U.S.-Israel relationship and pro-Palestine. This revelation may prove problematic for many conservative Christian leaders who are publicly supporters of Israel but are also vocal advocates for comprehensive immigration reform.
Recent reporting by WND and Politico detail how the increase in voters from Latin America and the Third World will increase the voting base of the increasingly left-wing Democratic Party. If comprehensive immigration reform passes, the Democratic Party will eventually be in a position to push through some of its more divisive policies.
Support for Israel in the United States is beginning to mirror the increasingly desperate social-issues battles between the left and right. The increasing secular disposition of college campuses and the Democratic Party has been accompanied by a rise in anti-Israel sentiment and sometimes hostility to biblical Christianity. The embarrassing episode at the 2012 Democratic National Convention where the platform committee removed references to God and the position that Jerusalem is the capital of the state of Israel, only to be overturned in a contentious public disagreement, is one of the most recent events to highlight this change in the Democrats' center-left coalition.
In the 2012 general election, Hispanics, the population believed to make up the majority of illegal aliens, voted overwhelming for the Democratic candidate President Barack Obama, by a margin of 71 percent to 27 percent. Further, immigrants from Islamic countries comprise up to 10 percent of legal immigrants to the United States and an unknown percentage of the Other Than Mexican, or OTM, illegal-alien population. These data are problematic for conservative Christian leaders who are supporters of comprehensive immigration reform, as many in American evangelical community rate support for Israel as one of their most important litmus test for adhering to core principles. In recent decades evangelical Christians have emerged as the most ardent supporters of Israel. Witness the unprecedented growth in the United States of Christians United for Israel and the credibility of The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem and its network of supporters worldwide.
The traditionally close relationship between the United States and the state of Israel is unique in international affairs. The relations between Israel and the Latin American countries have been mixed. Mexico and Brazil supported the infamous "Zionism is Racism" U.N. Resolution 3379 in 1975 but voted to rescind it in 1991. Of greater concern for pro-Israel advocates are the recent diplomatic actions by the Latin American governments. The majority of democratically elected governments in Latin America are left-leaning by American standards and generally favorable to the Palestinians. Evo Morales, the president of Bolivia, threatened to take Israel to international court over what he said were war crimes against the population of Gaza. In late 2010 and early 2011, the governments of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Ecuador and Chile passed separate resolutions recognizing Palestine as an independent state. Of the group, only Chile had a right-leaning government. Nicaragua suspended relations with Israel in response to the successful Israeli repulse of the Gaza flotilla.
The affinity of the growing Hispanic voting bloc for the Democratic Party is motivated primarily by economic concerns. Democratic policy is increasingly aligned to general global left-wing opinion. Further, the evidence suggests that even if it could be shown that Hispanic voters share the opinions of social conservatives, their votes are not swayed by these arguments. No one suggests that the 71 percent of Hispanic voters who supported President Obama did so because they were pro-Second Amendment or pro-life; Mr. Obama's left-wing views on those issues were well-known before the election. As was his controversial treatment of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Comprehensive immigration reform is on track to make the conservative Christian bastion of Texas a battleground state in U.S. Senate and presidential elections. If that happens, the left wing in the United States will have a clear path to majority rule for the foreseeable future. The increase in Democrat voters will likely be enough to maintain a Democratic majority even if Jewish voters were to split with the party's left wing over Israel.
The WND and Politico stories are not the only bad news for Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and the other supporters of comprehensive immigration reform. A report released recently by the Center for Immigration Studies reveals statistics that demonstrate that in 466 out 472 recognized civilian occupations, native-born Americans make up a majority of the workforce. This reports contradicts the widespread belief that immigrants are doing the jobs native-born Americans will not do. Immigrants were the majority in only six occupations; in those occupations native-born Americans still comprised 46 percent of the workforce.
As the fallout from Boston continues to develop and immigration is seen increasingly as a national security issue, some conservative Christian leaders will find it hard maintain the separation of their support for comprehensive immigration reform from their advocacy for Israel. They will also have to explain their contradictory approach to the issue of national sovereignty over borders and demographics. It will become increasingly difficulty for them to side with the left by arguing that "no person is illegal" while advocating for the right of illegal aliens to remain in the United States, and simultaneously adhering to conservative orthodoxy that opposes the Palestinian push for a "Right of Return" to Israel. They may have to choose.
It appears that a post comprehensive immigration reform America will be an America dominated by the Democratic Party that will in turn be dominated by the left-wing opponents of Israel.