How Did They Find Out: ISIS Invading Via Mexico

Some Republican candidates in statewide and congressional races this fall are saying they oppose the bipartisan Senate-passed immigration bill because it would open the way for radical Islamists of the Islamic State (ISIS) to invade the United States from the south and bring in the Ebola virus.  They want to lock the doors, throw away the keys and build higher fences. Don’t forget the moats and alligators.

One of those is Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-California), who warned ISIS could infiltrate the United States through Mexico.  In fact, he claimed in a Fox News interview "at least 10 ISIS fighters have been caught coming across the Mexican border in Texas."

Tom Cotton, the Republican senate candidate in Arkansas, said ISIS operatives are working with Mexican drug cartels to "infiltrate our defenseless southern border" and attack Arkansas.

Maybe they just want to sign up for Obamacare.

In any case, the Department of Homeland Security insists there is no evidence to back up any of those claims or that ISIS is operating anywhere near our southern borders. The Washington Post’s Fact Checker gave such charges “Four Pinocchios” for “trying to turn idle speculation into hard facts.”

Scott Brown, the former Republican Massachusetts senator who is running in New Hampshire this year, is warning that ISIS is coming across the Rio Grande and bringing Ebola with it. His anti-immigration accuses his Democratic opponent, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, of being pro-amnesty because she voted for the Senate-passed reform bill last year.  How will he explain to that state’s Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte, who also voted for the “amnesty” bill? 

He may not have to if polls showing him trailing are correct and he doesn’t make it to the Senate next year.  In that case, he’ll probably shop around for a third state to run in.

Some Republicans are quietly saying that they may have killed immigration reform this year but they can enact a bill next year that will repair relations with Hispanics for the 2016 election.  We heard that in the RNC "autopsy" after losing the 2012 elections but they quickly abandoned that goal. Don't look for the next Congress to be any better

The biggest threat to Democrats' hopes with Hispanics may come from Barack Obama himself.  Many are disillusioned with the President’s failure to keep his promises to act unilaterally on immigration reform in view of GOP blockage on the Hill.  He had said he'd act by the end of the summer and now he's saying by the end of the year, but many worry that he will lose his nerve.

His indecisiveness on an array of issues is one reason Democrats are in trouble this year.