Immigration Reform News 2013: Tea Party Activists Become Unlikely Allies for Reformers

Battle lines are being drawn in the immigration reform fight, and Republicans are splintering. Mainstream conservatives have lambasted a study by the Heritage Foundation claiming reform will cost too much, and now prominent Tea Party members are joining the conflict -- in favor of reform.

The Tea Party has traditionally been hostile to immigration reform measures, particularly the path to citizenship outlined in the Senate's bipartisan bill, which would allow many of the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country to apply for green cards and, eventually, citizenship.

Many in the Tea Party call that "amnesty," saying it rewards people who broke the law. Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Idaho Rep. Raul Labrador and Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint, all with close ties to the Tea Party, have been at the forefront of the anti-immigration efforts coalescing across the country.

But other members who support reform are now becoming more vocal. Tea Party Express, TheTeaParty.Net and Revive America plan to meet with Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, one of the architects of the reform bill, to make that support official, though they will also point out disagreements they have with the current shape of the proposed bill.

Grover Norquist, founder of Americans for Tax Reform and the godfather of the fiscal libertarian movement, will also attend. Norquist supports reform, a fact that should convince nearly everyone that reform won't be too expensive, given Norquist's rabidly principled aversion to deficit growth or tax increases of any kind.

Much of the most obstinate opposition to reform has been coming from the far-right, including the Tea Party. If affiliated members in the House can keep their anti-Obama sentiments in check long enough to vote in their own interests, immigration reform will have a much better shot to pass, and the country will be a much better place to live.

But what's good for the Republican Party isn't always what's good for its individual members. If history is any guide, the trajectory of individual careers will win out over common goals and the common good. And that makes passage a more difficult prospect.