SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A federal judge issued a split ruling Wednesday on Utah’s controversial immigration law, upholding one key measure but striking down several others in legislation that was passed in 2011 amid a wave of immigration crackdowns around the country.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups upheld a key provision that requires police work with federal authorities to check the immigration status of people arrested for felonies or certain misdemeanors such as theft, while giving authorities the discretion to check the citizenship of those stopped for traffic infractions and other lesser offenses.

But Waddoups set limits on how it can be implemented. For instance, officers cannot hold a person longer than normal just to wait for federal officials verify immigration status. That means if a person is stopped for a traffic offense that doesn’t require booking, he or she cannot be detained solely because of questions about immigration status.

Those limits, based on detailed guidance issued in 2012 by the Utah attorney general’s office, led immigrant-advocacy groups to claim victory in the ruling.

Waddoups’ ruling struck down a provision that allows warrantless arrests based solely on suspicion of immigration status. He also tossed a part of the law that made it a state crime to harbor a person in the country illegally and one that requires local officers to investigate immigration offenses.

“The ruling is sending a clear message to state and local police that they can’t stop, detain or arrest anyone solely for immigration purposes,” said Jennifer Chang-Newell, senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights project.

The ruling comes more than a year after a hearing in the case and more than three years since the law was passed. The measure has been shelved pending a court review.

The ruling shows the tide is turning against these types of state immigration enforcement laws, said Chang-Newell, who helped argue the case in federal court. Provisions in similar laws in Indiana, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama have also been blocked by judges, she said.

Karen Tumlin, managing attorney for the National Immigration Law Center, declared victory after reading the ruling. Her group also helped with the case.

“The decision really is the last across the country to issue a stinging review of the anti-immigration agenda,” Tumlin said.

A spokesman for the Utah governor’s office said they are reviewing the ruling to determine how it impacts legislation passed in 2011. The attorney general’s office had no immediate comment on the ruling. It’s unknown if the state will appeal the ruling.

In his 30-page ruling, Waddoups compared Utah’s key provision to the Arizona measure upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, basing his ruling largely on the higher court’s reasoning.

He said so long as officers follow the parameters for implementation set out in the guidance from the Utah attorney general two years ago, the rule doesn’t violate anyone’s Constitutional rights.

That guidance prohibits officers from trying to verify a person’s immigration status unless they encounter a person in a legal stop, detention or arrest. Officers aren’t required to see any specific type of documentation, but may ask for a driver’s license from Utah or another state, a tribal enrollment card or any ID document that includes photo and a biometric identifier, the document states. It clarifies that people are not required to carry any immigration documentation

“It does not provide an independent basis for stops, detentions or arrests. Nor may a stop, detention, or arrest be prolonged merely to confirm a person’s immigration status,” Waddoups wrote. “Finally, the communication regarding immigration status required does not interfere with federal regulatory schemes because it has been invited and encouraged by the federal government.”

Tony Yapias, immigration reform advocate and director of Proyecto Latino de Utah, praised elements of the ruling but said immigration issues would best be handled on a federal level. “They’re not passing immigration reforms,” he said, referring to Congress. “It puts a lot of pressure on our law enforcement.”

He applauded the judge for striking the warrantless-arrest provision, which he said would have led to racial profiling.

“Police officers aren’t trained to be immigration agents. That’s not their job,” Yapias said. “Their hands are busy enough handling more serious crimes in our community.”

The Utah legislator who pushed the law through, Republican Stephen Sandstrom, is no longer in office. Last year, he said he hoped the federal judge would remove some provisions in the measure, if not the whole thing.

Sandstrom, who unsuccessfully ran for Congress, said he regrets pushing so hard for the measure in 2010; that it was the wrong approach; and that immigration enforcement should focus on immigrants in the country illegally who have committed other crimes.

“At this point, I think it would be best for this country and the state to have him go ahead and overturn it — at least take out parts of it,” Sandstrom told the Salt Lake Tribune in March 2013 after a Republican-sponsored Latino Appreciation Day at the Capitol.

His change of heart, he said, stemmed from a 2011 encounter with a college student brought to the U.S. illegally as a toddler, who told him she had recently graduated high school with good grades but no future. Before that, the Orem Republican spoke at anti-immigration rallies for Arizona’s well-known border hawk, Russell Pearce, and sponsored, rallied and pushed for Utah’s measure.

___

Associated Press writer Michelle L. Price contributed from Salt Lake City.

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While Capitol Hill mourns the death of immigration reform, a “surge” of thousands of migrants — mostly children — are arriving at our border, straining Border Patrol resources and reminding everyone of the need for immigration reform. Guess no one told them about Eric Cantor’s primary loss. 

What is ‘the surge’?

“The surge” is what immigration advocates and government officials call the rapid increase in the number of undocumented child immigrants from Central America. Between late 2011 and 2013 the number of unaccompanied children apprehended at the border jumped from under 20,000 to more than 40,000, according to Mother Jones. This year officials expect to apprehend 60,000 children. 

Why is this happening now?

There are three factors behind the surge in immigration

• A desire to reunite with family members
• Lenient government policies — child migrants think they’ll be allowed to stay if they make it to America.
• Growing violence and instability in Central America

Families reuniting is self-explanatory, but there’s been a question over whose lenient government policies are pulling children in. Anti-immigration critics argue that it’s President Obama’s tactics, including a 2012 program to delay deportation for some minors. The problem is that policy 1) doesn’t apply to new immigrants and 2) was enacted after “the surge” began, as Vox explains. The U.S. is more lenient on child migrants because of a 2008 law passed by Congress to fight human trafficking. Regardless, there is a sense that children who get to the U.S. will be allowed to stay. 

RELATED: Obama Likely to Sign Executive Order Against LGBT Job Discrimination

The Wall Street Journal notes that critics argue the Obama administration’s policy of releasing women apprehended with minors into the U.S. while they await deportation proceedings, only exacerbates that problem.

How is the Border Patrol handling this?

Via. 

Not well. Over the weekend the Border Patrol Union tweeted about #lowmorale, because their job has been reduced to “diaper changing” and “burrito wrapping.” Not unrelated, border patrol agents have been accused of physically, verbally and sexually abusing child migrants in their custody. As Vox noted, the ACLU filed a lawsuit claiming agents spread a 16-year-old’s legs and “touch(ed) her genital area forcefully, making her scream.” There have also been unsubstantiated reports of children being punched and run over while being arrested. 

What’s being done to fix this in the short term?

Texas doesn’t have enough detention space to keep the immigrants it detains, which is why some people are being released. Others are being transported to detention centers in states like Arizona. Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne wrote the Department of Homeland Security last week to complain about the transfers to his state, arguing that the department is “simply releasing them here … rather than in Texas,” according to The Washington Post. Arizona Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake called the situation a “humanitarian crisis” and demanded an inspection of the possibly substandard detention centers. 

RELATED: Supreme Court Upholds ‘Straw Purchaser’ Law Against NRA-Backed Challenge

According to The Wall Street Journal, border agencies have ramped up the number of officials in the field, but argue that the sheer number of immigrants is more than they can handle. And to address the problems in Central America, Vice President Joe Biden will meet with officials from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras to discuss the surge of child migrants, according to Politico. 

What’s being done in the long term?

The short answer is nothing. Politicians declared immigration reform dead after Rep. Eric Cantor lost his Republican primary against an anti-immigration Tea Party members. Activists thought that might spur Obama to pass an immigration related executive action, but it didn’t. “Our strategy has not changed,” White House communications director Jennifer Palmieri told the Associated Press last week. “The impetus for action remains on the House.” Like we said, the short answer is nothing.

Meanwhile the Department of Homeland Security will do the best it can until the House decides to embrace its impetus for action role. “Those apprehended at our border are priorities for removal,” Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Thursday. He added that the department’s efforts are ”no substitute for comprehensive immigration reform.”

RELATED: Poll: Voters Like Hillary’s Hypothetical Presidency Better than Obama’s Real One

This article was originally published at http://www.thewire.com/politics/2014/06/immigration-reform-may-be-dead-but-undocumented-immigration-is-surging/372829/

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The day after Eric Cantor’s surprising defeat in the Virginia Congressional primary, the Business Roundtable issued a report making the economic case for immigration reform. Cantor, the majority leader in the House, had lost to Dave Brat who attacked him as a proponent of immigration reform that would grant amnesty to illegal immigrants. At the same time supporters of immigration reform were attacking Cantor as the single biggest opponent of reform.

The Business Roundtable, citing statistics from the Bipartisan Policy Center and the Congressional Budget Office, argued that immigration reform would boost economic growth by about 5% and add millions to the workforce over 20 years. In addition the roundtable, which usually supports the Republican agenda, said immigration reform would reduce the federal deficit by almost $1.2 trillion over 20 years.

Related: 3 ways America should be more like Canada

Big business is not the only constituency that supports immigration reform; the majority of Republican primary voters do too, according to Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of American Action Forum, a center-right Washington think tank. He attributes Cantor’s defeat to not paying enough attention to his district.

“Retail voters don’t want amnesty … but if you take that out of the equation and say this is legal status and they [immigrants] earn it, they say go,” Holtz-Eakin tells The Daily Ticker.

Related: Eric Cantor’s defeat means Congressional gridlock ‘is here forever’ says Jeff Macke

The forum surveyed Republican primary voters and found that four out of 5 supported a “step-by-step approach” to immigration reform that included border security, tracking visas, verifying employment and the payment of fines and back taxes.
 
These retail voters also support the expansion of H-1B visas for high-tech workers and a temporary worker program so long as those workers eventually go home, says Holtz-Eakin, who is also a former director of the Congressional Budget Office and former economic adviser to John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign.

He gives 40% odds that Congress will move on immigration this year. Watch the video above for more about the politics of immigration reform.

Follow The Daily Ticker on Facebook and Twitter (@dailyticker).

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For two decades, immigration has largely split the Republican Party into two camps. The first wants to make a number of changes in the nation’s border and immigration programs, including finding a path for some of the 11 million people living in the country illegally to be become citizens. The second wants to focus primarily on border security.

Attempts to bridge that gap are tricky, as demonstrated by this week’s surprise primary defeat of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.

Where some of the party’s top presidential prospects stand on the issue:

___

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky

Paul in 2013 proposed reinforcing border control efforts while allowing working immigrants living in the U.S. illegally to stay in the country and eventually obtain citizenship but not ahead of those here legally. The ideas received a tepid response when Paul spoke a year ago at the Iowa GOP’s spring fundraising dinner.

After Cantor’s defeat, Paul carefully restated his support for allowing workers to stay if they seek special visas, and he discussed what he called the “problem” of mass deportation.

“If you are not deporting people, does that mean you are normalizing them, and is that amnesty?” Paul said. “And so I really think that some of it, we’re trapped in this rhetoric and we have to get beyond that.”

___

Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin

As a candidate in 2010, Walker said he would sign a law like one in Arizona that allows local police to stop people suspected of living in the country illegally. He also called for barring immigrants here illegally from state health care and college benefits.

Last year, he told an editorial board meeting he’d support a path to citizenship for immigrants under some circumstances. On Thursday, though, he said in an interview with The Associated Press that his comments had been misconstrued. “I’ve never supported any firm amnesty,” Walker said.

___

Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey

Christie signed a version of the DREAM Act to allow children in New Jersey of parents who are living in the country illegally to pay in-state college tuition.

“I shouldn’t have to make that decision,” Christie said in February, describing the move as in New Jersey’s economic interest. “There should be a national policy on how we protect our borders, how we orderly permit folks to enter this country, the orderly process for legalization of those folks.”

Christie hasn’t said much about immigration since then. But his position, which includes supporting a process by which people in the country illegally may attain citizenship, puts him at odds with parts of the GOP base.

___

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas

Cruz’s position, a spokeswoman said Thursday, “remains the same — we need immigration reform that celebrates legal immigration, not amnesty.”

Previously, Cruz has criticized the Senate immigration measure led by Sen. Marco Rubio and also has said that Congress shouldn’t even tackle the issue until 2015, since the GOP is likely to retake the Senate in November.

“Republicans are poised for an historic election this fall — a conservative tidal wave much like 2010,” Cruz said in January. “The biggest thing we could do to mess that up would be if the House passed an amnesty bill — or any bill perceived as an amnesty bill — that demoralized voters going into November.”

___

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida

Rubio played a key role in brokering a bipartisan Senate immigration deal that led to passage of a bill to tighten border security, revamp the nation’s visa system and give most of the estimated 11 million immigrants here illegally an eventual path to citizenship.

But after a conservative backlash, the Florida Republican mostly dropped the issue, endorsing the House’s piecemeal approach and warning Congress against an “all-or-nothing” strategy. On Wednesday, he reiterated that stance and said President Barack Obama has made it impossible for Republicans to work with him on the issue.

“There’s legitimate concerns about rule of law,” he said. “I think those have only been exacerbated by this administration’s unwillingness to enforce the law.”

___

Former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida

For Bush, the debate over immigration is personal. His wife, Columba, grew up in Mexico. The two met while Bush was an exchange student there and she is now an American citizen. In a book last year, he suggested giving legal status, but not citizenship, to immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, which seemed to contradict his past statements on citizenship.

He has remained vocal on the issue and angered some conservatives in April when he called illegal immigration “an act of love” by people who want to provide for their families. On Thursday, a spokeswoman said Bush stood by his call for an overhaul of the nation’s immigration system.

___

Former Sen Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania

Santorum has spoken of the GOP’s need to help immigrants but stopped short of calling for legalization of those living in the country illegally. On Thursday, he released a statement calling Cantor’s loss “a serious wake-up call to the GOP establishment.”

“At the moment, Republican leaders in Washington are deeply out of touch with working Americans who see their jobs threatened by the federal government’s refusal to secure our borders,” he said.

___

Associated Press writers Nicholas Riccardi in Denver; Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa; Philip Elliott in Washington; Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin; Michael J. Mishak in Miami; Adam Beam in Frankfort, Kentucky; and Will Weissert in Austin, Texas, contributed to this report.

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DENVER (AP) — House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s startling primary loss this week to a tea party-backed opponent illustrates how the GOP finds itself paralyzed by immigration reform. The policy most party leaders agree is best for the Republican Party’s future is risky for most House Republicans seeking re-election in the fall.

Almost all represent districts that are home to few minorities and they are in greater danger of losing to a primary challenger than to a Democrat in the general election. That leaves little incentive for the GOP-controlled House to even touch an immigration overhaul that would to grant citizenship to many of the 11 million people living in the country illegally.

Economics professor David Brat hammered Cantor, R-Va., for purportedly backing “amnesty” for people in the U.S. illegally during his primary challenge. He called his unexpected victory a wake-up call that “immigration reform is DOA.” After Cantor’s defeat, Republicans are left in a quandary before the 2016 election — what to do about an issue that’s often a winner in primaries but could cripple the party in a White House race before a more diverse electorate.

“Pain can be a good teaching tool sometimes,” said Mario H. Lopez, a Republican and executive director of the Hispanic Leadership Fund. “It may take another White House beat-down before some folks understand what kind of cliff they’re walking over.”

Many people involved in the immigration debate have similar predictions about what will happen next: The House takes no action on an immigration overhaul, President Barack Obama makes good on his promise to ease deportations by executive action later this summer, and that inflames the GOP even more, dooming any bill in 2015.

When the next presidential race gets underway, a broad field of the GOP’s presidential candidates will be competing for the support of primary voters who are far more opposed to an immigration overhaul than most Americans.

To some Republicans, that brings back memories of 2012, when Republican Mitt Romney adopted tough-on-illegal-immigration rhetoric to win the Republican presidential primaries. On Election Day, Hispanic and Asian voters overwhelmingly backed Obama.

The lone policy recommendation of GOP’s post-mortem on Romney’s loss was to pass immigration reform. While 14 Republican senators voted for an immigration overhaul that chamber passed last year, the measure was declared dead on arrival in the House. Republican lawmakers, many of whom were focused on the midterms, sought to avoid angering their base.

Immigration skeptics argue that’s the right way for the party to appeal to the working class.

“There aren’t enough rich people and there aren’t enough businesspeople to elect people to office,” said Roy Beck, president of Numbers USA, which advocates for less immigration and believes those in favor of an overhaul are catering to financial elites who want to import cheaper workers into the U.S. “They have to have wage-earners.”

Immigrant rights groups complained that Cantor was part of the reason the overhaul died in the House, but as majority leader he opened the door to narrower measures that would grant citizenship to people brought to the U.S. illegally as children. That was enough to fuel his primary challenger.

It wasn’t immigration alone that doomed Cantor. The Virginia congressman sowed resentment by spending too much time focused on national issues as majority leader and not enough tending to his district. Others note that South Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, a chief architect of the Senate’s immigration overhaul, easily won his primary Tuesday night against a batch of tea party challengers.

And yet, the message appears clear to Republicans in Congress. On Thursday, House Speaker John Boehner said a bill probably wouldn’t be possible this year.

“Perception is reality in politics, and the perception among Republican members of Congress is going to be that (Cantor) lost because he took a somewhat squishy stance on immigration,” said Republican pollster Glen Bolger, who expects similar caution among 2016 hopefuls.

“You’ll see the volume turned way down on that,” Bolger said. “You’re going to see a lot more caution and a lot less risk-taking.”

Among the 2016 prospects taking care with the issue is Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who has received a tepid reaction from some Republican activists for a proposal that would let some people living in the U.S. illegally receive citizenship. He told reporters this week the immigration debate has become too charged.

“We’re trapped in this rhetoric and we have to get beyond that,” Paul said.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio reversed course on immigration in the wake of a backlash from GOP activists that followed his work as one of the eight co-authors of the Senate overhaul. He now argues the country shouldn’t consider creating a citizenship pathway until it secures its southern border.

“That was true before last night,” Rubio said the day after Cantor lost. “That’s especially true now.”

Matt Schlapp, a Republican consultant who worked for President George W. Bush, said the varying politics of immigration doom the prospects for any near-term action. After this year’s midterms, Democrats are sure to spend the next two years beating up on Republicans for the lack of movement, which in turn will lead the GOP to dig in deeper.

“If we have divided government, the politics have to work for both parties,” Schlapp said. “Until we get these things worked out, this just isn’t going to happen.”

___

Associated Press writers Adam Beam in Frankfort, Kentucky, Michael J. Mishak in Miami and Erica Werner in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Follow Nicholas Riccardi on Twitter at http://twitter.com/NickRiccardi

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By Julia Edwards

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Immigration reform advocates said on Wednesday that U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s primary election loss spelled doom for immigration legislation and that they planned to step up pressure on the White House to enact changes without waiting for Congress.

David Brat, who scored a major upset in defeating the No. 2 Republican in Congress in Tuesday’s primary in Virginia, labeled immigration as a major point of contention between himself and Cantor, crediting his own hardline stance in his victory. [ID:nL2N0OS0ZB]

Some advocates fear that House Republicans will interpret the primary’s results as a sign they should avoid entangling themselves with immigration legislation before November’s congressional elections.

“Many Republicans will react reflexively and say: ‘Let’s not touch this issue,’” said Frank Sharry, executive director of the America’s Voice immigration advocacy group.

Seeing the chances of legislation dim with Cantor’s defeat, immigration advocates cast doubt on Wednesday on President Barack Obama’s strategy to hold back on executive action until he has given the Republican-controlled House of Representatives a last chance to act.

Obama said last month he would be delaying much-anticipated changes to the nation’s deportation policy in hopes the House would act on passing comprehensive immigration before this August’s legislative recess, which is seen as the last practical window for passing a bill under this Congress.

“If there were doubts before, this is sort of the lid to put on it. We now need the president to act,” said Eddie Carmona, campaign manager for PICO National Network’s Campaign for Citizenship.

Obama, speaking at a fundraiser on Wednesday, rejected the view that Cantor’s loss spelled the end of immigration reform.

“It’s interesting to listen to the pundits and the analysts and some of the conventional wisdom talks about how the politics of immigration reform seem impossible now. I fundamentally reject that,” Obama said. [ID:nL2N0OS2DH]

(Editing by Peter Cooney and Eric Walsh)

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Washington (AFP) – Heads of major US companies on Wednesday urged immigration reform as crucial to boosting US economic growth, amid speculation the issue was dead after a shock Republican election defeat.

The Business Roundtable, an influential group representing top chief executives, said that fixing America’s “broken immigration system” would unleash a powerful force that drives growth and bolsters the business sector.

The group issued a report laying out the economic case for immigration reform, which coincidentally landed as Washington political circles reeled from Tuesday’s unexpected defeat of Republican Party chieftain Eric Cantor in a Virginia primary election.

Cantor, the US House of Representatives majority leader, was trounced by a university professor backed by the radical conservative Tea Party, David Brat, who campaigned against Cantor’s support of legislation that would allow the children of illegal immigrants to remain in the country and become US citizens.

The defeat of Cantor, one of the most powerful politicians in Washington, raised warning flags to any Republican considering support for a path to citizenship to the country’s 12 million illegal immigrants, analysts said.

The president of the Business Roundtable (BRT), John Engler, told AFP “there’s no question there’s been an impact” from the Cantor rout.

But Engler pointed to the resounding victory of one of the Republican sponsors of the Senate immigration bill, Senator Lindsey Graham, who easily won his South Carolina primary Tuesday.

Numerous public opinion surveys have shown strong support for comprehensive and balanced immigration reform, said Engler, a Republican former three-term governor of Michigan.

“The issue is very important for the nation.”

- Reform a ‘win-win deal’ -

The Business Roundtable called for “sensible” reform, saying there were compelling reasons to fix a system that includes an ongoing flood of illegal immigrants across the US-Mexico border.

“The numbers and the people tell the story: Immigration is an all-around success for America’s economy, and fixing the system would produce a win-win deal to the benefit of both immigrants and native-born Americans,” said Greg Brown, chairman and CEO of Motorola Solutions, and chair of the Rountable’s immigration committee.

The report cited data from the Bipartisan Policy Center estimating that reform would increase gross domestic product by 4.8 percent over 20 years and decrease federal deficits by $1.2 trillion.

Immigration reform would expand the US labor force, thus directly boosting overall economic output, and increase tax revenues, helping to brighten the country’s long-term fiscal outlook.

The report noted several studies had concluded that new immigrants would generally participate in the labor force at a higher rate than the current US population, another factor promoting faster growth.

Data showed that immigrants or their children had founded 40 percent of the Fortune 500 companies, and immigrants are nearly 50 percent more likely to start a business, the report said.

“Immigrants have been, and will continue to be, critical to the success of both BRT companies and the overall US economy. Indeed, most BRT companies depend on US-based foreign-born workers to supplement their domestic workforce.”

The report also featured the success stories of some immigrant executives, including Carlos Rodriguez, head of payrolls firm ADP, who fled Castro’s Cuba as a boy with his family.

Former US Accenture CEO Jorge Benitez also arrived in the US as a Cuban political refugee, while Indian national Krish Prabhu, now chief technology officer at AT&T, came to the US for study and has lived in the country for nearly 40 years as a permanent resident.

“By putting an often-neglected human face on the immigration issue, we’re reminded of the significant contribution immigrants make to our economy, businesses and society,” Brown said.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Immigration may have cost Majority Leader Eric Cantor his election. His defeat almost certainly dooms the issue in the House.

Cantor, R-Va., was supposed to cruise to victory in Tuesday’s GOP primary over Dave Brat, an underfunded political novice who is an economics professor at Randolph-Macon College.

The only question was how wide Cantor’s winning margin would be. Immigration advocates were watching intently, hoping that if it was big enough, Cantor would feel free to green-light action on immigration legislation in the House.

Instead Cantor lost, decisively, after a campaign in which Brat made immigration the central issue. Brat accused Cantor of embracing “amnesty” and open borders, signed an anti-immigration pledge, and got assists in recent weeks from conservative figures popular with tea party voters such as radio host Laura Ingraham and columnist Ann Coulter, who labeled Cantor “amnesty-addled.”

Cantor fought back, boasting in strongly worded mailers of shutting down plans to grant “amnesty” to “illegal aliens” — a changed tone for a lawmaker who’d spoken out in favor of citizenship for immigrants brought illegally to this country as youths.

He hardened his stance on the policy, moving to block House action last month on a GOP-authored measure offering citizenship to certain immigrants here illegally who serve in the military.

It wasn’t enough.

After a primary election season in which immigration had barely registered, the outcome suggested that it can still be a potent political issue for Republican primary voters.

And Cantor’s loss almost certainly ended whatever slim hopes remained for a deal on immigration in the House this year, likely putting the issue on ice until after the 2016 presidential election.

“It’s really dead now,” said Roy Beck, president of Numbers USA, a group that opposes comprehensive immigration legislation. Immigration “has been pronounced dead many times over the last two years, but I think the voters of Cantor’s district have sent an incredible message.”

Some immigration advocates and pollsters cautioned it was too soon to say whether immigration was the deciding factor for Cantor. David Winston, a GOP pollster who advises House Republicans, said that had Cantor known he was truly threatened, he would have campaigned differently, possibly producing a different outcome. Instead, Cantor’s internal polling had shown him comfortably ahead.

“Was that the key issue? We don’t know because the candidate never thought he was in a race,” Winston said.

Immigration advocates also noted that some GOP candidates who embraced immigration legislation escaped their primaries unscathed. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., an author of the comprehensive immigration bill that passed the Senate last year, won his primary handily Tuesday.

Another House member, Rep. Renee Ellmers, R-N.C., also won last month even though her opponent attacked her as a supporter of relaxing immigration laws.

Some Democrats were still holding out hope for action. “Now Mr. Cantor can do the right thing instead of the political thing,” said Rep. Joe Garcia, D-Fla.

But Cantor’s loss was such a stunning rebuke for a politician seen as next in line to be speaker of the House that it immediately emboldened conservative opponents of immigration legislation.

For a Republican House rank and file already reluctant to take on the politically volatile issue in an election year, the outcome offered an object lesson on the benefits of steering clear.

And for establishment Republicans who’ve been pushing support for an immigration overhaul as the best way for the GOP to win back the Latino voters crucial to national elections, Tuesday’s result was a sobering setback. In the year since the Senate passed a comprehensive immigration bill, House Republicans have resisted the entreaties of the business community, religious leaders and the GOP establishment.

That doesn’t look likely to change anytime soon.

“We’re all shocked that you got the No. 2 Republican taken down and the entire campaign was on immigration,” said Hector Barajas, a Republican consultant in California who is trying to sell the GOP to Hispanics. “That emboldens the Ted Cruzes of the world to go out there and say ‘I told you so.’”

___

Associated Press writers Nicholas Riccardi in Denver and Andrew Taylor in Washington contributed to this report.

___

EDITOR’S NOTE — Erica Werner covers immigration issues for The Associated Press.

An AP News Analysis

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House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s stunning defeat to a Tea Party-affiliated challenger means one thing for certain: Immigration reform is not going to happen in this Congress.

“Dead,” one Senate Democratic aide wrote in an email to Business Insider Tuesday night.

Immigration reform’s 2014 prospects were on life support to begin with. However, President Barack Obama recently delayed taking action on immigration on his own and expressed a glimmer of hope the House would act on the issue after Republican primaries were completed.

Cantor’s primary, though, provided the final push that likely will doom any chance immigration reform had this year — and possibly into the future. Dave Brat, the unknown college professor who beat Cantor, the No. 2 Republican in the House, made immigration a central issue of the campaign. He even pushed Cantor to the right on the issue leading to the House Majority Leader sening out mailers that boasted he blocked “amnesty” in Congress.

Ultimately, Brat used immigration to paint Cantor as a Beltway insider — someone not remotely conservative enough for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District.

“Immigration is the superficial issue,” Erick Erickson, the editor of the conservative website RedState, told Business Insider. “But underneath there is a lot of bad blood with conservatives who feel like [Cantor] has repeatedly made them promises and betrayed them; constituent services that were run for Washington lobbyists, not actual citizens of the district; a very heavy-handed staff that was hard for constituents to deal with and for conservatives to reason with; and he took his eye off the prize. He was looking at the Speaker’s chair, not his own.”

Though he cast immigration as a more surface-level problem for Cantor, Erickson noted the issue still provided a foundation for Brat’s victory.

“But immigration was the issue on which the race could be built,” said Erickson. “If we couldn’t trust Cantor on a long list of broken promises and half-hearted deals, we couldn’t trust him on immigration.”

Some Democrats disputed immigration reform was on its death bed prior to Cantor’s loss, saying House Speaker John Boehner would be the one to determine its fate. Boehner’s office said it had no comment on Cantor’s loss Tuesday night. White House aide Dan Pfeiffer and others made the point that on the same night Cantor lost, U.S. Sen Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) — a sponsor of the Senate’s immigration bill — resoundingly won his primary.

” Immigration reform has been held hostage by Speaker Boehner. It’s up to him,” one senior Senate Democratic aide said.

The aide also identified Cantor’s handling of local party elections as a potential source of anger towards him inside his district. 

“I’d just point out that the way Cantor and his operatives engaged in an iron-fisted slating process outraged local conservatives,” the aide said. “There was a lot of anger about his style and tactics.”

Other Democrats, however, were more pessimistic about the imminent future of immigration reform. Still, they said Cantor’s loss squeezes Republicans and puts the party in a nationally uncomfortable position ahead of the next two election cycles — especially the presidential campaign in 2016. A poll released Tuesday showed more than six in 10 voters nationally support immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for people in the country illegally.

“It puts Congressional Republicans in a very difficult bind: risk losing primaries, or risk losing national elections to Democrats for the next generation,” Tom Jensen, the director of Public Policy Polling, told Business Insider.

Jensen cast congressional primary victories like Brat’s as a Pyrrhic victory for immigration reform opponents that might yield short-term wins but would keep conservatives far from the White House. 

“Immigration reform isn’t going away, and if the Republicans continue to block it, Democrats will keep getting 70% plus of the Hispanic vote. It’s very hard for the GOP to win a Presidential election if that continues,” explained Jensen. “Enough Republicans are going to have to just take the risk of primary backlash by voting for this to get it passed, or else the party will continue paying the price in November for years to come.”

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House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s stunning defeat to a Tea Party-affiliated challenger means one thing for certain: Immigration reform is not going to happen in this Congress.

“Dead,” one Senate Democratic aide wrote in an email to Business Insider Tuesday night.

Immigration reform’s 2014 prospects were on life support to begin with. However, President Barack Obama recently delayed taking action on immigration on his own and expressed a glimmer of hope the House would act on the issue after Republican primaries were completed.

Cantor’s primary, though, provided the final push that likely will doom any chance immigration reform had this year — and possibly into the future. Dave Brat, the unknown college professor who beat Cantor, the No. 2 Republican in the House, made immigration a central issue of the campaign. He even pushed Cantor to the right on the issue leading to the House Majority Leader sening out mailers that boasted he blocked “amnesty” in Congress.

Ultimately, Brat used immigration to paint Cantor as a Beltway insider — someone not remotely conservative enough for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District.

“Immigration is the superficial issue,” Erick Erickson, the editor of the conservative website RedState, told Business Insider. “But underneath there is a lot of bad blood with conservatives who feel like [Cantor] has repeatedly made them promises and betrayed them; constituent services that were run for Washington lobbyists, not actual citizens of the district; a very heavy-handed staff that was hard for constituents to deal with and for conservatives to reason with; and he took his eye off the prize. He was looking at the Speaker’s chair, not his own.”

Though he cast immigration as a more surface-level problem for Cantor, Erickson noted the issue still provided a foundation for Brat’s victory.

“But immigration was the issue on which the race could be built,” said Erickson. “If we couldn’t trust Cantor on a long list of broken promises and half-hearted deals, we couldn’t trust him on immigration.”

Some Democrats disputed immigration reform was on its death bed prior to Cantor’s loss, saying House Speaker John Boehner would be the one to determine its fate. Boehner’s office said it had no comment on Cantor’s loss Tuesday night. White House aide Dan Pfeiffer and others made the point that on the same night Cantor lost, U.S. Sen Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) — a sponsor of the Senate’s immigration bill — resoundingly won his primary.

” Immigration reform has been held hostage by Speaker Boehner. It’s up to him,” one senior Senate Democratic aide said.

The aide also identified Cantor’s handling of local party elections as a potential source of anger towards him inside his district. 

“I’d just point out that the way Cantor and his operatives engaged in an iron-fisted slating process outraged local conservatives,” the aide said. “There was a lot of anger about his style and tactics.”

Other Democrats, however, were more pessimistic about the imminent future of immigration reform. Still, they said Cantor’s loss squeezes Republicans and puts the party in a nationally uncomfortable position ahead of the next two election cycles — especially the presidential campaign in 2016. A poll released Tuesday showed more than six in 10 voters nationally support immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for people in the country illegally.

“It puts Congressional Republicans in a very difficult bind: risk losing primaries, or risk losing national elections to Democrats for the next generation,” Tom Jensen, the director of Public Policy Polling, told Business Insider.

Jensen cast congressional primary victories like Brat’s as a Pyrrhic victory for immigration reform opponents that might yield short-term wins but would keep conservatives far from the White House. 

“Immigration reform isn’t going away, and if the Republicans continue to block it, Democrats will keep getting 70% plus of the Hispanic vote. It’s very hard for the GOP to win a Presidential election if that continues,” explained Jensen. “Enough Republicans are going to have to just take the risk of primary backlash by voting for this to get it passed, or else the party will continue paying the price in November for years to come.”

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