PAHRUMP, Nev. (AP) — Nevada Republicans swept the 2014 elections while hardly discussing immigration. But now that detente is over.
With elected officials in the state feuding over the issue and the party's presidential contest in town, passions are raging once again. They're raising the specter that the party will never resolve the issue even where it is essential for its political survival.
Nevada's economy depends on a steady flow of overseas tourists. It is 28 percent Latino, 9 percent Asian-American and leads the nation with the highest rate of people living in the country illegally, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.
Nevada's immigrant communities have helped turn a once reliably Republican state in presidential elections into one that backed President Barack Obama twice. Many analysts attribute that to hardline Republican positions on immigration.