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Making a difference on immigration

May 18, 2006 | By Nathaniel Ward

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Heritage's Robert Rector explains the consequences of the Senate's immigration proposal at a press conference Monday. His paper had an immediate impact.

On Monday, Heritage’s Robert Rector released a new paper pointing out the consequences of the Senate’s proposed immigration bill. Later that day, radio and television hosts were reporting the results of the study: 100 million new immigrants will come to this country in the next 20 years. And that was just the beginning.

Over the past three days, Heritage’s experts have appeared on dozens of radio and television programs to discuss the paper’s conclusions. More than a score of print and online articles have cited this important research. The media has been extremely interested in this story for a very good reason: Heritage is the only organization that has conducted a serious examination of the immigration proposals on the table.

It’s a near certainty that every lawmaker on Capitol Hill is hearing about Rector’s report. If they haven’t read about it in the paper or in their briefing materials, or heard about it on TV or radio, they’re hearing about it from their constituents. And when they know their constituents care, they pay more attention—giving Heritage a real chance to make a difference.

In fact, we’ve already made a difference. One journalist told The Heritage Foundation that the press conference announcing Rector’s paper led directly to a Senate vote to reduce the number of legal immigrants by 35 million. Never before has a single press conference had so great an impact, the journalist said.

Here’s a sampling of our media appearances on immigration from just this week:

Television

  • Newt Gingrich previewed Rector’s finding on NBC’s “Meet the Press” 5/14.
  • FOX News issued a “Fox News Alert” as soon as it received Robert Rector’s paper on 5/15, citing Heritage as the source (watch online!).
  • A GOP strategist mentioned Rector’s paper in a debate on FOX the same day.
  • FOX’s “Special Report with Brit Hume” presented a report on a press conference held 5/15 by Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., featuring Rector and two of Rector’s graphics.
  • Heritage Vice President Mike Franc appeared on FOX’s “Your World with Neil Cavuto” on 5/15 to discuss Rector’s assertion about the Senate immigration bill.
  • Sean Hannity quoted Rector’s research in a 5/15 interview on his FOX News show.
  • The host of C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” read from 5/15 The Washington Times story that quoted Rector’s finding.
  • Pat Buchannan cited Rector’s finding in a 5/16 MSNBC interview.
  • White House spokesman Tony Snow discussed Rector’s paper during a 5/16 press briefing, which appeared on C-SPAN and other networks (He said officials were “taking a look at it.”). 
  • Director of Heritage’s Center for International Trade and Economics Tim Kane discussed immigration and Rector’s finding on CNN’s “Lou Dobbs Tonight.”
  • Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz., mentioned Rector’s paper in a 5/16 CNN interview.
  • Heritage’s Director of U.S. Senate Relations Brian Darling appeared on MSNBC 5/16 to discuss the issue and Rector’s finding.
  • Rector appeared on 5/17 on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal,” which replayed the Snow comments during the interview.
  • Rector also appeared on FOX News on 5/17.

Radio

  • Rush Limbaugh discussed Rector’s paper shortly after its release on 5/15 (listen online!).
  • Director of Heritage’s Center for American Studies Matt Spalding appeared 5/15 on Ave Maria Radio Network,  KCOL (Denver), and on FOX News Radio.
  • Rector appeared on WSPD (Toldeo), KOGO (San Diego), the syndicated “Michael Reagan Show” and WOAI (San Antonio).
  • Mike Franc appeared on KMED (Portland).
  • Brian Darling appeared on WTKK (Boston).
  • Limbaugh grilled Vice President Dick Cheney on the finding in Rector’s study on his 5/16 show. Cheney said he hasn’t read it yet. (“I would hope that it would inform the debate and that Congress will consider those kinds of impacts very carefully before they finally pass something.”)
  • Spalding and Rector discussed immigration an hour apart from each other on 5/16 on Washington, D.C.’s WAVA radio 5/16 after Bush’s speech.
  • Spalding on 5/16 interview on KKLA (Los Angeles)
  • Rector on American Family Radio, KOA (Denver), Talk Radio Network, WBAL (Baltimore) and Westwood One on 5/16
  • Brian Darling on West Virginia radio 5/16.
  • Laura Ingraham discussed Rector’s research at length on her top-10 radio show 5/16.
  • Robert Rector talked to Laura Ingraham on her 5/18 program (listen online!).

Print and Online Opinion

Print and Online News

Heritage is clearly making a difference in Washington and around the country. With your support, we can continue our efforts as we explain to lawmakers and the American people the importance of sound immigration policy.

President Bush reasserts veto threat

As President Bush signed into law on Wednesday an important two-year extension of the tax cuts on investment—an extension made possible in no small part by the work of Heritage’s experts—he made clear his intent to veto any emergency spending bill that exceeds his request or includes wasteful spending:

Congress is now considering an emergency supplemental bill that can show the American people we're determined to be fiscally sound with their money. I've set a clear limit on spending that I'll accept for this legislation, and if this bill goes over the limit, or includes non-emergency or wasteful spending, I'll veto it.

According to firsthand reports, this announcement was greeted with enthusiastic applause, and deservedly so. Reining in wasteful spending is an important first step on the road to fiscal responsibility, and the President is right to take the lead on this issue.

The House leadership is also on board with the President’s firm stance against pork and overspending. Also on Wednesday, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) echoed a call from Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) to reject the Senate’s proposal to cut spending for troops to pay for pork-barrel projects. “The House will not join a shell-game spending spree with taxpayer dollars,” he said in a statement.

Senate to consider racist “native Hawaiian” law

While we naturally spend most of our time focusing on the issues in the news, it’s important that we not lose sight of other items on the Congressional agenda. Though they may not generate as many headlines, these proposed policies are equally as important. For instance, after the Memorial Day break, the Senate will consider granting special legal status to “native Hawaiians,” Congressional Quarterly reports (no link available).

Under the plan, a new government, formed by those deemed sufficiently racially pure, would have jurisdiction over all native Hawaiians anywhere in the United States. As Heritage Ronald Reagan Fellow Ed Meese and legal expert Todd Gaziano wrote the last time the bill was up for a vote, “this ‘Native Hawaiian Government’ supposedly could exempt these Hawaiians from whatever aspects of the United States Constitution and state authority it thought undesirable.”

This approach is fundamentally unconstitutional, Meese and Gaziano wrote. Were it to pass, “there would be no end to racial separatist “nations” that Congress could carve out of the United States population and exempt from the United States Constitution. This cannot be.”

Congress has an obligation to uphold the Constitution and preserve the union. This bill does neither, instead pandering to separatist ethnic special interest groups.

In other news

Coming up at Heritage

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Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation.