Party positions on naturalization are defended openly in electoral terms

Evidence

While Democrats supported citizenship for these undocumented residents, Republicans in the Senate not only opposed the path to citizenship, but also offered amendments that would have lengthened the time to naturalization and made the requirements for naturalization more onerous than they are today. Republican commentators are not shy about defending this decision on electoral grounds. Thus, Laura Ingraham argued in a Washington Post opinion piece that the GOP should continue to oppose immigration reform: “In light of … the experience of California—which has shifted from a Republican stronghold to one of the most liberal states in the country, in large part because of the rise of its immigrant population—it is absurd to pretend that allowing even more immigrant voters wouldn’t be a boon to the Democrats.” Similarly, Rush Limbaugh called immigration reform “Republican suicide.” — Daryl Levinson and Benjamin I. Sachs, Political Entrenchment and Public Law, 324

Categorization

• XREF: Naturalization as self-conscious vote-engineering connects to entrenchment strategies like gerrymandering and voter-ID rules; relevant to how groups entrench advantage via procedure. — connects to: Naturalization policy in the 1800s was openly driven by electoral self-interest — Daryl Levinson and Benjamin I. Sachs, Political Entrenchment and Public Law, 318; Naturalization timing disputes recur because citizenship changes electoral composition — Daryl Levinson and Benjamin I. Sachs, Political Entrenchment and Public Law, 319; Recent migration politics center on who belongs as citizens. — David Theo Goldberg, The Racial State, 141 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Recent migration politics center on who belongs as citizens. #expands (0.75) — David Theo Goldberg, The Racial State, 141
• Party officials uniquely positioned to rebut conspiracism instead acquiesce for electoral survival #exemplifies (0.75) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 329