SEAN HANNITY

Wednesday, June 19th

Secure Our Borders First When it comes to immigration reform, I cannot emphasize this enough: Secure the borders first. How difficult is that to understand? Now before we go any further, I want to make it clear that contrary to liberal media reports, I have not been lobbied by anybody to get on board with the Gang of Eight plan. Sometimes I will talk to politicians, but that is to arrange for them to come on the program and talk to you directly. I've had politicians on all sides of this issue on the program from Marco Rubio to Jeff Sessions to Rand Paul to Ted Cruz to Jeb Bush. I've had other guests like Ann Coulter, who is dead-set against this bill. We've put everybody on the program so that you can make an informed decision. After the election I said – and this is very important – that if we secure the borders first, then conservatives may be willing to deal compassionately with the 11 million illegal immigrants who are here. I still believe that. I believe that the Grassley amendment had it right in that we should deal with the border first and then take on the issue of the illegals second. Liberals Want The Issue A lot of conservatives are upset with Marco Rubio. I can understand that. I do believe that he had the best of intentions when he started working on this issue. But I also told him during interviews early on that I do not trust Democrats like Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin. Democrats have a history of not being trustworthy. My prediction seems to have become a reality. Democrats are basically using this as a political issue, not for the sake of solving an important problem but to boost future election chances by making this a wedge issue for 2014. The way that this is all shaping up, Democrats will be able to go out there and say that Republicans don't like Hispanics, just like they squawk that Republicans want dirty air and water, they want to push granny off the cliff and they want poor and disabled children to fend for themselves. This is typical liberal politics at play. Nearly every time you do business with liberals, they go back on their word. If y ou remember back in 1986, we were supposed to secure the borders. We have legislation on the books right now to do so, but in typical Washington fashion … they have little interest in abiding by the law. Or take a look at what happens every time the GOP tries to negotiate spending cuts in exchange for tax increases. Democrats end up getting their tax increases implemented but then we never really see any spending cuts. For more on the immigration battle including some amazing cost estimates, check out my full article on Hannity.com.

The Numbers Don’t Add Up
Republicans like Lindsey Graham seem convinced that winning over Hispanic voters will be the key to the GOP's future success in elections. Winning over more voters of any type will be important for the GOP going forward, but the Hispanic vote alone will not help Republicans win elections. A few months ago, Byron York broke down the numbers from the 2012 presidential election. According to the Times' calculator, Romney would have had to win 73 percent of the Hispanic vote to prevail in 2012. Which suggests that Romney, and Republicans, had bigger problems than Hispanic voters. It’s clear to me that politicians in America are looking at the issue of illegal immigration in terms of what they can gain politically and what power they can maintain or achieve; Americans are look at the issue of illegal immigration in terms of economic impact and fairness.

Today's "Hot Topic" From the Hannity Forums:
Good Government Is Good Politics - Posted by Ryooper
For all these immigration battles I read about and hear Sean talk about, the one thing that it seems Washington operatives have lost site of is the common principle that good government makes good politics.  Another way to put it is that doing the right thing ultimately will win the day.  So, what's the right thing?  Well, I say it's the immigration policy that walks the line between making it possible for honest immigrants to fight for the American dream while having a process that respects the fact that the world isn't as safe as it used to be.  I know it's not easy but the right thing is somewhere in the middle between sealing this country from the outside and opening our borders.  One thing is for sure though, we have to do something.