South Carolina becomes Republican's immigration reform 'test market'

South Carolina becomes Republican's immigration reform 'test market.  Senators lean toward point-based immigration system, giving workers more of an edge.


By NOELLE PHILLIPS

March 31, 2013


COLUMBIA, S.C. — U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham called South Carolina ground zero in the fight for immigration reform as evangelicals join Republicans in pushing for change.

The Republican Party and evangelical movement are using conservative, religious South Carolina as a test market for their message that immigration is as much a moral issue as an economic one. An Upstate minister and a Columbia businessman stood with Graham as he laid out his four-point reform plan in a Columbia news conference that featured as many national reporters as local ones.

"If you can sell it here, you can sell it anywhere," Graham, R-S.C., said of the message.

Graham is one of the GOP's leading voices on immigration reform, a position that five years ago damaged his political image at home and caused him to back off the issue. This time, the evangelicals have brought Graham key support that he had lacked.

Until now, most religious groups have stayed out of the immigration debate. In a 2010 study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, only 1 in 4 people surveyed said their clergy talked about immigration and less than 7 percent of the respondents said religion helped form their views on immigration.

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