The speeches at CPAC 2013, the Conservative Political Action Conference that wraps up today in Washington, D.C., demonstrated the hostile attitudes to immigrations reform that still plague the Republican Party.
Traditionally opposed to relaxing immigration restrictions, conservatives have had trouble trying to remake their image after losing last year's presidential election, including the votes of 71 percent of Latinos in the country and 73 percent of Asian Americans. Both groups are growingly rapidly and disproportionately affected by immigration policy.
The first day of the conference saw a well-received speech from Marco Rubio, a member of the "Gang of Eight" in the Senate currently hashing out a reform bill that would offer a path to citizenship for nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants.
But Rubio didn't mention immigration reform in his speech, opting to toe the party line on social issues and the economy. In a separate events the same morning, panelists charged that undocumented immigrants should not be granted residency or citizenship, a position touted by Rep. Raul Labrador of Idaho, a Latino congressman who has emerged as the leading voice of opposition to the Senate immigration bill.
"It would be a travesty, in my opinion, to treat those who violated our laws to get here much better than those who have patiently waited their turn to come to the United States the right way," Labrador said.
The following day, Donald Trump kicked off the speeches with his usual bombastic musings, which included a warning to Republicans against legalizing the status of undocumented.
"When it comes to immigration, you know that the 11 million illegals, even if given the right to vote, you know, you're going to have to do what's right, but the fact is 11 million people will be voting Democratic," Trump said during his speech. "You have to be very, very careful, because you could say that to a certain extent the odds aren't looking so great for Republicans, that you are on a suicide mission. You are just not going to get those votes."
CPAC ends today, with speeches from Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin and Ann Coulter, none of whom are supporters of immigration reform. As much as CPAC likes to brand itself as the center of conservative thought, the future of the Republican Party is being worked out in the halls of Congress.