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Like Hamlet pacing the stage in angst-ridden doubt, Speaker John Boehner this week delivered the message that immigration reform is dead for 2014. Its not that he doesnt realize the issue is important. Its not that he doesnt believe our current immigration system is broken. Its just that hed rather suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune than take arms to end the sea of troubles brewing in the Republican Party.

Boehner blames President Obama for his troubles. And he has a point up to a point.

Republicans dont trust that the president will actually enforce a new law that includes stronger border security. Indeed, the president already has shown hes happy to ignore pesky provisions of laws with which he doesnt agree think not only his manipulation of Obamacare but also his decision to ignore federal drug statutes on marijuana, to name only two examples.

So why would Republicans believe the president will enforce border security? Never mind that this administration has deported more illegal immigrants than any administration in modern history: two million people. The AFL-CIO and other immigrant advocacy groups want the president to stop all future deportations until a new law is passed. Vice President Joe Biden has said the president wont accede to these demands, but his word isnt worth much in Republican circles.

But the bigger problem for Boehner and other Republicans who know that passing immigration reform is the right thing to do for the country is that they are afraid anti-immigrant groups with deep pockets will target them for defeat in their re-election bids.

This is a tragedy for the GOP. It speaks of a profound lack of true leadership and the decision endangers conservatism for future generations.

If the Republican Party becomes the party of nativists, it will die. If the GOP defines itself primarily by what it is against, it will lose Hispanics, but also young people, women, suburbanites and the business community.

Some argue that putting immigration reform on hold this year is the smart thing to do because the debate would become a distraction in an election that should focus on the disastrous failure of Obamacare. But that is true only if the tiny though influential group of anti-immigrant fanatics decide to make it so.

Right now these groups and individuals think they can blackmail the Republican leadership. You put immigration reform on the legislative agenda this year, and we will pack your townhall meetings, bombard your congressional offices with phone calls and letters and emails, and maybe even field primary opponents against you, they threaten.

But what if GOP leaders started speaking with one voice and said, No, we wont be blackmailed? Of course, it would take not only courage but also facts to take on the yahoos. They should start by acknowledging that securing our border requires more than fences, high-tech surveillance and deportations.

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Republicans foolishly give up on immigration reform | New ...