Why immigration amnesty isn’t the answer to Republicans’ demographic woes

...reforming the nation's immigration laws could very well create a whole bunch of new Democrats, including in some key swing states. Let's break it down...

The rise in the Hispanic population in the United States is problematic for the GOP, but so far it's been quite slow. In 2004, Hispanics made up 6 percent of all voters. That ticked up to 7 percent in 2008 and 8 percent in 2012... This chart shows the states with largest share of Hispanics (including non-citizens)...

If many of the Hispanic non-citizens across the country became voting eligible citizens through immigration reform, some of those states become much more interesting politically. Take Texas, where only 22 percent of voters were Hispanic, but they make up 37 percent of the total population of the state. The pattern is similar in Arizona...

Hispanic citizens' lower turnout and registration rates have so far limited their political impact. But if the significant share of Hispanic non-citizens gain a path to citizenship [amnesty] and actually start voting, the electoral map could change much more quickly than what the slowing changing demographics of the country suggest. And that would be a bad thing for Republicans.