One of the more curious things about November’s election is how immigrant-bashing somehow evaporated as a Republican issue. Even more interesting is that two of the GOP’s biggest immigrant-bashers – Virgil H. Goode Jr. and Thelma Drake – are toast.

This should be an instructive tale as Virginia moves forward into 2009 and tries to deal with some of the far more serious problems, such as dealing with the worst economic crisis in decades and long-neglected issues such as the large number of Virginians who have no health insurance.

Even the conservative Wall Street Journal’s editorial page noted: “Immigration wasn’t a dominant issue this fall, and other factors contributed to the GOP defeat. But the political reality is that Republicans who thought that channeling Lou Dobbs would save their seats will soon be ex-Members.”

That’s a lesson Goode and Drake learned the hard way. Goode, a 12-year incumbent, was trumped in a squeaker by international lawyer and Albemarle County native Tom Perriello. Drake was dumped by Glenn Nye.

Of the pair, Goode was especially obnoxious. He brought shame and ridicule to the Old Dominion in 2006 by writing on U.S. House of Representatives stationery that unless his hard-right immigration policies, including rescinding current law that children of illegal immigrants born in the U.S. can be U.S. citizens, we will see the influx of undesirables, namely people of the Muslim faith. “If Americans don’t wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there likely will be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran,” he wrote.

So much for religious tolerance. But in his letter, Goode also showed his unspeakable ignorance since the issue had to do with whether a newly-elected Muslim Congressman from the Midwest would be sworn in on the Bible (presumably the King James Version, the preferred one for bashers). Turns out no Congressmen are sworn in “on the Bible.”

Then Goode made idiotic comments that Mexican restaurants shouldn’t display the Mexican flag. What’s next, a ban on the Irish tri-colors outside an Irish bar?

Not that Goode didn’t have other problems. He was linked to a defense contracting scandal that sent fellow Republican Randy Cunningham to prison. The San Diego political and former jet fighter ace in the Vietnam War was convicted for helping get contracts for MZM, Inc., a higher tech national security firm, which gave $88,000 to Goode in political contributions although the firm had nothing to do with Goode’s District. Goode said he redistributed those funds to non-profits.

During his bitter campaign against Perriello, Goode tried to paint the Virginia native and long-time resident of Albemarle County as a Yankee outlander with a funny-sounding, Italian last name. In fact, Perriello is a respected international lawyer and Yale grad who has done lots of work in complex legal issues involving Darfur, Sierra Leone, and Afghanistan. The “New York lawyer,” as Goode’s campaign branded him, won by 745 votes.

Thelma Drake is a kind of Goode-lite. Also an immigrant-basher, she supported such proposals as making it illegal to spend federal money to alert the Mexican government about movements of the Minutemen, a kind of yea-hoo vigilante outfit of anti-immigrant volunteers who, armed with deer rifles, CB radios, night vision glasses and binoculars, take it upon themselves to “patrol” the Southwestern borders.

Now if you want to consider someone who actually knows something about the immigration issue, look at Arizona Governor and former U.S. Attorney Janet Napolitano who has just been picked by President-elect Barack Obama as his candidate for Homeland Security.

Napolitano is not at all in favor of illegal immigration and has the smarts to realize what a complex issue it is. As she told the National Press Club in 2007: “It is too easy for the ‘bad guys’ to enter our country and too difficult for the ‘good guys’ – whose energies and intellects we need – to obtain lawful status.”

Vigilance is needed since in 2006, during one 24-hour period, an estimated 4,000 immigrants would cross into her state illegally. That number dropped by a third with the arrival of National Guard units.

But simply taking a Rambo-stance won’t work. She notes that her state is Mexico’s biggest trading partner by far – representing some $4 billion worth of goods – especially with the bordering Mexican state of Sonora. “I spend more time working with the Governor of Sonora than I spend with any U.S. governor,” she said.

The visa system is in desperate need to revision, she said. For example, according to today’s system, the Dominican Republic, with 8 million people, is granted per capita more visas than Mexico with a population of 100 million. “No wonder it takes, on average, more than 10 years to get a legal immigrant visa from Mexico – talk about an incentive to cross illegally.”

Mind you, these are the ideas of a woman who actually knows something about the immigration issue, not Goode nor Drake. To both of them: good riddance!

Peter Galuszka