Former presidential nominee Senator John McCain believes that immigration reform needs to be passed by the Republican party if it is to stand any chance of beating Hilary Clinton at the next presidential election in 2016. McCain called Clinton “the odds-on favorite right now” and says that while he expects the next election to be very competitive, he fails to see the Republicans having much of a chance unless they enact some form of comprehensive immigration reform.
Speaking at the first event in the Politics on Tap series, which was held at the Washington DC bar Sixth Engine on 17th July, McCain said that he can only “hope and pray and work” in order to try to convince Republicans in the House of Representatives to pass legislation similar to that passed last year by the Senate.
“Hopefully my colleagues in the House will realize the same demographics that I am referring to and that they will at least in some way bring up immigration reform, whether it’s piecemeal, whether it’s one-at-a-time,” McCain insisted. “I think as the 2016 campaign gets closer that my colleagues will recognize … that we are marginalizing the Republican party.”
Although national polls indicate a strong desire for immigration reform on the part of the Latino community, other national polls show strong reservations about reform that fails to secure the US border. Senator Ron Paul has added to the controversy by pointing out that one of the biggest reasons for the rise in undocumented immigrants is America’s failed ‘war on drugs’, which has caused the violent conditions many immigrants are struggling to escape from in their own countries.