Rand Paul’s latest cowardice: There’s a reason why he runs away from immigration policy

[DonViejo]

The Kentucky senator does the libertarian/Tea Party flip-flop time and again on immigration. He stands for nothing

SIMON MALOY

If you were to ask me for Rand Paul’s position on immigration reform, my honest answer would be that I don’t know. The Kentucky Republican and libertarian-ish senator is among the people considered most likely to seek the GOP nomination for the presidency in 2016, and during his brief time in office he’s held a variety of positions related to immigration, lurching from extreme nativism to measured support for moderate reforms. Last week, while on a trip to Guatemala to perform pro-bono cataract surgery, Paul tossed another policy position onto the pile: support for a bill passed by House Republicans to end President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which shields certain young undocumented immigrants from deportation.

So, in the spirit of trying to figure out just what the hell is going on here, let’s track the evolution of and changes to Sen. Rand Paul’s stance on immigration.

One of the very first things Rand Paul did upon his entry into the U.S. Senate was to join Sen. David Vitter in proposing a constitutional amendment to end birthright citizenship – one of the foundations of U.S. citizenship law that has been in place since Reconstruction. His impetus for doing so was the threat posed by so-called “anchor babies.” According to conservative mythology, pregnant immigrant women would cross the border into the U.S. immediately prior to giving birth so that their child would have U.S. citizenship. Then the immigrant parents would wait 21 years until their citizen child could sponsor them for residency.

As you’ve probably surmised, it’s not the most effective plan for circumventing immigration laws, which is probably why – all the nativist hype notwithstanding – it wasn’t actually happening to any large degree. But newly ensconced Sen. Paul wanted to change the Constitution to end the “anchor baby” threat. “Citizenship is a privilege, and only those who respect our immigration laws should be allowed to enjoy its benefits,” Paul said at the time.

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http://www.salon.com/2014/08/25/rand_pauls_latest_cowardice_theres_a_reason_why_he_runs_away_from_immigration_policy/