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 The notion, absent from presidential politics for at least 20
years, could help them tap into the frustrations of working-class
voters who have struggled with stagnant wages and reduced job
opportunities since the economic crisis of 2007-2009.
It could also complicate prospects for a comprehensive fix to the
nation's outdated immigration system and tar the Republican Party as
anti-immigrant at a time when it needs to broaden its support base
of Hispanics and Asians, two of the biggest groups of legal
immigrants in the United States.
"This hurts our efforts. I think people need to tone down the
rhetoric," said Hugo Chavez-Rey, chairman of a Hispanic Republican
group in the battleground state of Colorado.
Since 1989, the United States has been letting in about 1 million
new immigrants per year, a level comparable to the last great wave
of European immigration at the turn of the 20th Century. The Census
Bureau estimates there are now 43.3 million foreign-born residents
in the United States and within 10 years immigrants will account for
15 percent of the population, a record high. (Graphic: http://reut.rs/1ef8E8Y)
Roughly 2 in 5 Americans think those levels are too high, according
to polling by Gallup.
 Many Republican presidential candidates are vocal champions of legal
immigration. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, the front runner in
the Republican race, says more legal immigrants are needed to boost
economic growth while South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham says
they can help care for an aging population.
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul has said higher levels of legal
immigration would lead to lower levels of illegal immigration, while
former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee said "let's get as many
people here as want to come" last month. Florida Senator Marco Rubio
and Texas Senator Ted Cruz frequently invoke their Cuban-immigrant
parents in stump speeches, and both have called for expanding
guest-worker programs.
PROTECTING WORKERS
Few national politicians have called for limiting legal immigration
since the 1990s, when Republican candidate Pat Buchanan warned that
immigrants would erode the influence of white Americans.
That argument still appeals to voters like Colorado retiree Jan
Herron who see the nation's increasing diversity as a threat to
their way of life.
"California is gone because of the invasion," Herron said, referring
to that state's growing Hispanic population. "The same thing is
happening here in Colorado."
Advocates of limiting immigration disavow these sentiments and say
they bear no will toward immigrants. The best reason to limit
immigration, they say, is to give U.S. workers more bargaining
power. Blacks, Hispanics and recent immigrants in particular are
vulnerable to competition from new arrivals who are willing to do
menial work for lower wages, they say.
"We don't have enough jobs for our lower-skilled workers now. What
sense does it make to bring in millions more?" Alabama Senator Jeff
Sessions, a Republican, wrote in the Washington Post in April.
Sessions had been one of the few public officials calling for a
decrease in immigration levels until this spring, when Walker said
the United States should consider restricting immigration levels
when the economy is struggling and raise them when it is booming.
Walker has yet to release a formal immigration plan. His campaign
declined to elaborate on his position or make him available for an
interview.
But advocates of limited immigration are thrilled that presidential
candidates are taking up their cause.
"Walker's the one who really put this on the map," said Roy Beck,
executive director at NumbersUSA, a group that wants to scale back
legal immigration. "He's said it so many times now I don't see how
he could possibly back out of it."
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Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, also wants to reduce
immigration by 25 percent as part of a broader agenda to improve the
economic prospects of blue-collar workers.
"I know this will be termed somehow as anti-Hispanic or
anti-immigrant, but I would just say that immigration policies
should be policies that serve the interest of the American public,"
he said at a news conference last month.
HELPING DEMOCRATS
Economists have generally found that immigration has little to no
effect on wages over the long term. Some argue that immigration has
boosted overall wages because immigrants create more demand for
goods and services and they generally do not directly compete with
U.S.-born workers for the same jobs.
The effect on the political landscape is more clear cut.
Immigrants favor Democratic candidates and liberal policies by a
wide margin, surveys show, and they have moved formerly competitive
states like Illinois firmly into the Democratic column and could
turn Republican strongholds like Georgia and Texas into
battlegrounds in the years to come, according to University of
Maryland political science professor James Gimpel.
Thus it's a matter of smart politics for Republicans to stem the
tide, immigration skeptics say.
"Small-government conservatism can't survive in the face of
continued high levels of immigration," said Mark Krikorian,
executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a
pro-restriction group.
The idea of limiting legal immigration has less support among the
public than it did two decades ago, when Gallup found that 65
percent thought immigration levels were too high. That figure now
stands at 41 percent.
The idea is most popular among working-class voters who feel
pessimistic about the economy, Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway
said. Candidates like Walker can win their support by criticizing
companies that hire cheap immigrant labor rather than offering
better pay to U.S. workers, she said.
Other pollsters have found less support for this idea when they
clarify they are talking about legal immigrants.
A June poll by ImmigrationWorks USA, a pro-immigration business
group, found that only 13 percent thought that legal immigrants talk
jobs away from American workers, while twice that percentage thought
they take jobs Americans don't want.
Others warn the discussion could further turn off voters who already
suspect the Republican Party is hostile to immigrants.
"How are we going to reach out to more people and be more
inclusive?" said Johnny Cabazos, a Colorado office worker and
aspiring Republican politician. "I just don't think that helps."
(Reporting by Andy Sullivan, editing by Ross Colvin)
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