“If we keep playing this game that self deportation is the only answer for the Republican Party, we will have destroyed our chances in 2016 and dealt a death blow to our party because by 2050 the majority of the country is going to be African American, Hispanic and Asian,” he said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Media pundits and conservative strategists have declared immigration reform in 2014 dead in the wake of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s (R-Va.) shocking primary loss last week.

“It was a matter of immigration. It’s ridiculous that people are saying, “Immigration wasn’t an issue.’ It was the main issue in the race,” said William Kristol, the editor of The Weekly Standard, on ABC’s “This Week.”

But Graham, a co-author of comprehensive immigration reform bill that passed the Senate, warned his party not to be “delusional” about the need for the House to act on the issue as well.