Conventional wisdom has held that immigration is less an issue for Latino voters in Florida than in other states. While that may be true in a Republican primary, demographic realities make it less and less true in a general election, where Cuban voters make up only 5% of the electorate. In the general election, anti-immigrant positioning will come back to haunt the Republican nominee, not only in Florida but other swing states.

As the Republican race for the party’s presidential nomination begins and the 2012 cycle kicks off in earnest, the Party’s stance on immigration and ability to compete for Latino voters will be a major storyline. In this report, America’s Voice provides a review of GOP presidential candidate positions on immigration, finding that the field tilts hard in the anti-immigrant direction. We follow the candidate profiles with analysis of the Party’s lurch to the right on immigration in recent years, and provide four lessons for the Republican Party when it comes to Latino voters, immigration, and its potential significance for 2012 and beyond.

The Obama Administration has recently announced that it will start allowing spouses and children of U.S. citizens, who are eligible for legal status, to apply for family unity waivers in the United States. Many U.S. citizen family members currently have to travel to one of the most dangerous cities in the world, Ciudad Juárez, apply for their waiver there, and remain there while awaiting a decision.

The U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juarez is the only one in Mexico that can process and issue certain types of immigrant visas--including those for spouses, children and parents of U.S. citizens. But violence in Ciudad Juarez, and other towns, has exploded in the last decade, and has accelerated since 2008 as Mexican President Felipe Calderon declared war on Mexican drug cartels.

For years, anti-immigrant activists have scared Republican officials into thinking that GOP voters are rabidly anti-immigrant and oppose any candidate who supports common sense reform. The recent ascent of Newt Gingrich, who has weathered attacks from enforcement-only candidate Mitt Romney over his immigration position, demonstrates conclusively that this line of thinking is wrong.

The DREAM Act is a bill that would provide a pathway to citizenship for young students who have lived in the U.S. nearly their whole lives, who were brought here through no fault of their own. It would help educate the next generation of Americans, would generate tax dollars from improved wages, and would spur enlistment in the Armed Forces. The DREAM Act makes so much sense that even conservatives have supported it -- here's what they've had to say.

A fact-sheet highlighting the various dangers posed by passing mandatory E-Verify.

This report uses examples from across the country to document the “chilling effect” that police-DHS collaboration has on immigrant crime victims and witnesses, and describes how programs like Secure Communities (S-Comm) actually make all of us less safe.