With their proposals defeated in Congress for now, pro-amnesty activists have dropped off the radar while President Obama considers a major executive action that Republicans have warned could precipitate a constitutional crisis.
August recess town halls have also been relatively quiet, devoid of reports of pro-amnesty demonstrations. The border crisis has dominated many such events, with lawmakers taking tough questions from constituents, but few have dealt with protests when they make themselves available to constituents.
A Numbers USA coordinator who monitors town halls told Breitbart News Thursday that while immigration has often been a topic of conversation at town hall meetings this cycle, she has not seen the level of protest from immigration activists that the group expected.
“I have not seen any open-borders protests and more surprisingly, the ‘DREAMers’ haven’t been showing up to town halls either,” Melanie Oubre, local activism coordinator at NumbersUSA explained to Breitbart News. “We thought they would be hounding House Republicans who voted to cut the funding for DACA.”
According to a Politico, groups founded by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez are not dishing out the money for political ads as midterm elections near.
“With the problem at the border and the president’s rhetoric on executive action have totally poisoned the well,” Charlie Spies, who helped found Gutierrez’ Republicans for Immigration Reform, told Politico. “I don’t think anybody believes anything can happen this year.”
Politico reports that Gutierrez’s group is not the only pro-immigration group not planning a pro-immigration push this cycle, neither is the American Action Network, nor the New American Economy, Bloomberg’s group. And Zuckerberg’s FWD.us has not purchased any ad time to date. Politico notes, however that the group still could go up with ads in the future.
Oubre surmised that the activist community is “confident the president is going to issue an executive order to grant amnesty to nearly the entire illegal population in the country today.”
“It is also noteworthy that big business, such as Mark Zuckerberg’s FWD.us, is not spending any time or money this election cycle to promote amnesty as they did last year. They know it’s a losing issue for them in 2014,” she added.
Though quiet for now, one congressional aid told Breitbart News, that the billionaire pro-immigration crowd are not giving up.
“These moneyed interests are just acting rationally. The American people and some of their elected representatives dealt them a deep blow and they didn’t get the cheap labor they want in the latest round. Rest assured, they’re not giving up. Like after 2006 and 2007, they’re now regrouping and plotting their next assault on the American worker. It could be launched at any moment,” the aide explained.
“Because there are now ways to bypass their media allies, Americans of all backgrounds and political persuasions are increasingly aware of what they’re up to,” the aide added.
The aide further echoed Oubre’s theory, that given the unpopularity of the pro-amnesty views “they’ve put all their eggs in one basket, which is President Obama.”
Meanwhile, Politico’s Jake Sherman reports, that in one Colorado House race, previously expected to focus on immigration reform, immigration has no been a dominant force.
“I think immigration is really important, but no, I don’t think that the race is any way a referendum on immigration reform,” Republican incumbent Mike Coffman said, according to Politico.
“Not to say that it’s not important, but the race in no way hinges on that,” Coffman said.
His Democratic challenger, Andrew Romanoff, said something similar, telling Sherman it is “a big issue, it’s not the only issue.”
To be sure, Politico reports that not all the immigration reform money is staying on the side lines. Latino Victory Project, the publication reports, is planing ads attacking House Republicans in the fall, Partnership for a New American Economy is looking at pro-immigrant themed advertising, and the Service Employees International Union is running some immigration-related radio ads in certain House races.
A “source close to” Gutierrez’s, American Action Network which has backed off advertising this cycle, told Politico the group did “everything they could to support immigration reform but it simply doesn’t appear realistic this year. They’re not about to attack or pressure House leaders, but rather be there to support it if a real chance for immigration reform reemerges.”