Immigration Law

IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: MEL MARTINEZ - US SENATOR

By Greg Siskind

Mel Martinez is a Cuban-born Republican US Senator from Florida. He came to the US as a refugee in 1962 as part of Operation Peter Pan, a Catholic Church-sponsored initiative that brought 14,000 children to the United States. Senator Martinez practiced law for 25 years in his home town of Orlando and was elected in 2004 to replace Democrat Bob Graham.

Senator Martinez is also one of that rare breed of pro-immigrant Republicans who supported comprehensive immigration reform. In 2006, Martinez was named as Chairman of the Republican National Committee in part because of his party's concern about the drop in support for Republicans with Hispanic voters. But when he warned his party that it risked permanent minority status if it continued with the anti-Hispanic tone, he was shown the door. Now that it has become clear that he GOP will never win the White House again if they don't improve their standing with the growing Latino voter population, I expect Senator Martinez's stock to begin to rise again.

Senator Martinez was on Meet the Press this morning and he discussed the election with Tom Brokaw. Specifically, the two talked about the impact of the Hispanic vote on the election. Martinez noted that Hispanic voters shifted enough to the Democrats to cost the GOP the state of Florida. Brokaw brought up the article in USA Today from Friday that had these quotes:

Martinez agreed that the Republicans have a serious math problem and he referred to statements made by Jeb Bush saying the same thing.

The biggest gift the Democrats could give the Republicans would be to ignore Hispanic voters and skip dealing with immigration. Should this happen, if I were Mel Martinez I would focus on convincing my party to take a position something along these lines: "The Democrats promised you progress on immigration, but it was just talk. They take you for granted. Come back to the Republican Party - the party that more closely fits your values - and we'll deliver. Remember, it was a Republican President that fought for comprehensive immigration reform. Our party committed to getting control of illegal immigration first and then moving forward with more comprehensive reform. President Bush delivered on enforcement. And the Republicans will deliver on the rest if you give us the chance."

Full post as published by Greg Siskind's Blog on November 09, 2008 (boomark / email).