Rove seeks immigration compromise

BY GLENN THRUSH AND CRAIG GORDON | Newsday Washington Bureau

April 5, 2006

WASHINGTON - Embattled White House political czar Karl Rove has injected himself into the increasingly chaotic immigration battle in the Senate, lobbying GOP senators in hopes they'll accept a guest worker program reviled by some conservatives in his party.

On Monday, Rove met at the White House with Republican senators, including Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.). Yesterday, he worked the phones, conferring with Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) and others pushing a compromise aimed at uniting fractured Senate Republicans.

Rove's involvement highlights the stakes for the White House and underscores Rove's belief that a liberalized immigration policy will help the GOP make inroads with Hispanic voters. Rove's ongoing legal troubles - he remains under investigation in a case involving the leak of a CIA agent's identity - have kept him mostly on the political sidelines in recent months.

"Karl Rove has been quite active on this [immigration]," said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).

Rove has urged Senate Republicans to delay Majority Leader Bill Frist's April 10 deadline to pass a border security and immigration bill to give more time for parties to sort out their differences, GOP sources said.

As bipartisan consensus frayed in the Senate yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), sponsors of the moderate bill under consideration, tried to drum up 60 votes needed to shoot down a possible filibuster by conservatives who deride their approach as amnesty.

"We're very, very close - within one or two votes," said a GOP aide, who backs their bill.

The McCain/Kennedy bill, adopted by the Judiciary Committee last week and supported by Democrats, allows illegal immigrants to stay here while they apply for their green card if they pay back taxes, a $2,000 fine and prove they're employed.

But early yesterday, some Republicans rallied to a more conservative proposal by Hagel, requiring undocumented immigrants to prove they resided in the U.S. for five years before they can apply for a green card.

"Compromise is in the air!" shouted Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a McCain-Kennedy co-sponsor, leaving a meeting in Frist's office yesterday.

Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), fearing GOP defections to Hagel's bill, called for an immediate vote closing debate on McCain/Kennedy.

The White House released a memo signaling support for the Kennedy-McCain bill's creation of 400,000 work visas annually for immigrants. The memo dodged the issue that has snarled the Senate: what to do with the millions of undocumented workers living in the U.S.

The White House took aim at one key provision of the House bill, saying it strongly opposes a proposal to make it a crime for churches or other humanitarian groups to provide aid to illegal immigrants.