Since the election, there’s been a noticeable change in how Fox News has been covering the delicate issue of illegal immigration. It started with Sean Hannity. On his radio program on November 8, Hannity told listeners that he now supports a path to citizenship for some people living in the United States illegally. “We’ve got to get rid of the immigration issue altogether,” Hannity said. “You control the border first. You create a pathway for those people that are here, you don’t say you’ve got to go. And that is a position I’ve evolved on.”
If the “I’ve evolved,” language sounds familiar, it’s because that’s what President Obama said when he told the public in May that he’d changed his mind and was now supporting gay marriage. “I’ve evolved” is the way people in Washington signal that they realize they’re out of touch and are now trying to lead from behind.
For Hannity it’s a dramatic about face. During the 2012 primary election, the GOP was the party of “self-deportation,” a term Mitt Romney coined. Romney was drawing on earlier comments by Hannity, who has called deportation the only solution for the 11 million plus people living in the country illegally. Hannity described the Dream Act, which offers a path to citizenship for young people who came to the U.S. before they were 16, finished high school, and have no criminal record “an amnesty nightmare.” In his view, even those illegal immigrants who served in the military didn’t deserve citizenship rights.
After Hannity announced his change of heart, Fox covered ran a a news segment the next day entitled, “Conservatives Re-Examining Republican Party’s Position on Illegal Immigration.” The following week, Fox gave extensive and generally positive coverage to Florida Senator Marco Rubio’s speech at the Washington Ideas Forum. Rubio appealed to his party to come up with a sensible plan for the illegal aliens living in the U.S., saying, “It’s really hard to get people to listen to you on economic growth, on tax rates, on health care if they think you want to deport your grandmother.”
Appearing on Fox on Sunday, Sen. John McCain added to the chorus. He called on the GOP to heed the lessons of the election, in which minorities provided the margin of victory for Obama in key states. “I think we have to have a bigger tent,” McCain said. “Obviously, we have to do immigration reform.”
McCain has a keen interest in keeping the discussion alive. He and Senator Ted Kennedy brought an immigration reform package to Congress back in 2007. That bill, which was pushed by President Bush and included a path to citizenship, was derailed in part by talking heads like Hannity. Any attempts to get traction for a renewed effort at immigration reform would benefit from a friendly reception on Fox News. It looks like they’ve got it.
