Political Price for Restrictionism?

In today's Op-Ed pages, Timothy Egan of the NYTimes suggests that restrictionist political platforms (particularly those with racist overtones) are not a winning political strategy for Western politicians.  Citing the election defeats of J.D. Hayworth and Randy Graf in Arizona, as well as the growing size of the Hispanic population, Egan predicts that Republicans will pay the price at the polls if they systematically oppose legalization and rely on harsh anti-Mexican rhetoric.  The op-ed is here.   It's an interesting thought, but it seems to me that the complexities in the way immigration issues play out within and between parties makes this a pretty difficult question to call.

In other immigration news (and perhaps giving Egan a chance to test his theory out), at the moment it appears that a group of Republican Senators  are again vowing to block the recently revived Senate immigration bill, leaving us (again) with no legislation.

-jmc