State Republicans haven't learned immigration lesson

There are echoes from California Republicans' disastrous past in their solid support of the Trump administration's ugly raids targeting Latinos suspected of illegal immigration.

- GEORGE SKELTON COLUMNIST CAPITOL JOURNAL

GENARO MOLINA Los Angeles Times RESIDENTS surround ICE and Border Patrol agents after an immigration raid in the city of Bell in June.

California's GOP apparently still hasn't learned. Scaring, insulting and angering people is not an effective recruiting tool. It doesn't draw them to your side. It drives them into the opposition camp.

That should have been a lesson learned three decades ago when Republicans strongly pushed a harsh anti-illegal immigration ballot initiative, Proposition 187. It became principally responsible for changing California from a politically competitive state to one where the GOP is essentially irrelevant.

This occurred to me when reading recent poll data that showed strong overall objection in California to President Trump's oft-inhumane immigration enforcement policies — among virtually every group, that is, except Republican voters. They overwhelmingly support his tactics.

The in-depth poll by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies delved into voter attitudes toward Trump's mass deportation actions.

On the basic question of his immigration enforcement strategy, 69% of registered voters disapproved and just 29% approved. But there was a sharp difference between political parties. Democrats almost unanimously disapproved-95%. And 72% of independents were opposed. But 79% of Republicans approved.

Interviewers also asked about specifics. And GOP voters were with Trump all the way.

Strong majorities of Republicans disagreed that federal agents "have unfairly targeted Latino communities for their race or ethnicity," believed the raids have "primarily focused" on undocumented "serious" criminals-although evidence shows that many law abiders have been snatched - and thought "all undocumented immigrants need to be deported."