tags: , , , Blog

Idaho Democrat, Walt Minnick, Giving Latino Opponent the Tancredo Treatment

Share This:

In one of the uglier developments of the 2010 mid-terms, Idaho Democratic Congressman Walt Minnick is lashing out at his Latino Republican opponent, Raul Labrador, for being “soft” on immigration. 

Labrador, an immigration attorney and Republican state legislator who has been endorsed by Sheriff Joe Arpaio, can hardly be called a champion for immigrants. Still, Minnick is giving Labrador the full Tancredo treatment.

This is a far cry from 2008, when Minnick was an advocate for comprehensive immigration reform – a policy supported by a whopping 88 percent of voters in Idaho’s first Congressional District.  His opponent at the time, Republican incumbent Bill Sali, was an immigration hardliner who advocated a deportation-only approach.  While Minnick argued for immigration enforcement, he also included a common-sense system for undocumented immigrants already here to pay a penalty and get legal. 

Minnick rightfully said Sali’s mass deportation plan would “overwhelm the courts and cripple Idaho’s agricultural economy, which relies on migrant labor,” while Sali argued that Minnick promoted amnesty to no avail.