By ERICA WERNER
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - In a warning to fellow
Republicans, Sen. John McCain said Wednesday that failure to pass
comprehensive immigration legislation could mean continued election
losses for the GOP and cause Republican-friendly states like Arizona to
fall to the Democrats.
The Arizona Republican, his party's former
presidential nominee and one of eight senators to sign onto a bipartisan
immigration reform framework this week, said failure to act means the
trend of Hispanic defections from the GOP would continue.
Latino voters supported President Barack Obama over
Republican Mitt Romney 71 percent to 27 percent in November, helping to
ensure Obama's victory.
McCain said that Republicans have failed to
understand the importance of immigration to Hispanic voters and that's
cost the party at the ballot box.
"If you have a large bloc of Americans who believe
you're trying to keep their ... fellow Hispanics down and deprive them
of an opportunity, obviously that's going to have an effect," McCain
said.
The Senate framework would provide a path to
citizenship for the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants already in
the country, secure the border, attempt to simplify legal immigration,
and add requirements for employers to prevent hiring of illegal
immigrants.
If no bill passes, McCain said, the forecast for
Republicans is that "the trend will continue of lack of support from
Hispanic voters, and also as you look at the demographics of states like
mine that means that we will go from Republican to Democrat over time."
McCain spoke alongside Democratic Sen. Charles
Schumer of New York, his partner on the immigration proposals, at a
breakfast hosted by Politico.
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