The battle hits the Capitol

Effort has exposed fissures in the GOP and created some unlikely alliances for Democrats

BY GLENN THRUSH AND PETER CLARK | Newsday Washington Bureau

March 27, 2006

WASHINGTON - The Republicans' election-year push for immigration reform was supposed to be a boon for the party, coupling tough border protections with a humane guest-worker program to bring 12 million undocumented immigrants out of the shadows.

Instead, that effort, which comes to a head this week in the Senate, has splintered the Republican ranks, pitting pro-business moderates and the White House against hard-liners eager to tap voter anger on the issue.

It's also energized the Democrats' inner-city base and soured Hispanics to the GOP, spawning massive pro-immigrant protests on the streets of Los Angeles, Phoenix and Milwaukee.

Throw in a little 2008 presidential intrigue, some Bible-thumping from Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the prospect of new protests on Capitol Hill today and Democratic Leader Harry Reid's promise to filibuster any immigration bill he doesn't like - and you're looking at one long, hard week coming up for the ruling Republicans.

"It's an election year, so why are Republicans bringing up an issue that they are so divided on? It's mystifying to me," said Jennifer Duffy, who monitors the Senate for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.

"There are a lot of people in the party who would like to see this off the table," she added. "I could see why the White House would want to push this because they're looking for anything that resembles an accomplishment. But for the Senate Republicans, it's certainly exposed some fissures."

This latest GOP family squabble flips Washington's typical partisan pattern on its head: Many Democrats back President George W. Bush's goal of designating some illegal immigrants as guest workers to put them on the citizenship track. But many Republicans in the House and Senate have been cold to the approach. Even staunch Bush supporters like Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) have derided guest-worker proposals as "amnesty" schemes that reward people who enter the U.S. illegally.

Earlier this month, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), a 2008 presidential contender who has voiced opposition to the concept of amnesty, issued an unusual ultimatum to Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter: Deliver an immigration bill by March 27 or accept Frist's own stripped-down bill.

Frist's legislation closely resembles a hard-line measure passed by the House in December, excluding the guest-worker provisions pushed by Bush. Like most of the immigration bills rattling around the Senate, it adds thousands of new border patrol agents, imposes fines against employers that knowingly hire illegal workers and beefs up screening systems.

Much of the controversy around immigration reform - including last week's massive school walk-out in Los Angeles - centers on an anti-smuggling provision in the House bill. Many church leaders claim it would make a felony out of feeding, sheltering or providing health care to undocumented immigrants.

On Wednesday, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton turned up the political temperature by suggesting that the provision was ungodly and that "Jesus himself" would have been a criminal under the law.

It's not clear if the Senate bill that emerges today will contain the felony clause, but clergy and immigrants rights groups are planning protests on Capitol Hill this morning when the Judiciary Committee meets in the hope of beating Frist's deadline.

The main moderate alternative to Frist comes from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), another prominent 2008 contestant, who has co-sponsored a bill with Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) to grant 400,000 new guest-worker visas. It also would give undocumented aliens in the United States a chance to stay here if they pay a $1,000 fine, settle back tax bills, try to learn English and get to the back of the waiting list for a green card.

Frist has hinted he'll reject that approach as a veiled amnesty plan, prompting angry McCain supporters to charge that he's courting reactionaries in hopes of portraying McCain as soft on immigration in 2008.

"Frist is playing to people's worst instincts - it's all about 2008 to him," said one prominent McCain ally, who requested anonymity.

Amy Call, a Frist spokeswoman, brushed aside critics, saying her boss' bill is just a "starting point" and that any senator, including McCain, can introduce their bills on the Senate floor this week in the form of an amendment.

"The goal here is to have a bill passed over the next week, week and a half," said Call, who wouldn't say how Frist would vote if McCain-Kennedy came to the floor.

Regardless of what happens on the Hill, the immigration debate has already broken out of the Beltway, and the typically sedate Senate, accustomed to cutting deals out of public view, will have no such luxury this week.

"Frist has kicked a sleeping giant," said Joshua Hoyt, executive director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant Rights, one of 38 state groups expected to send 2,000 protesters to Washington. "We will put on handcuffs and say that if working in this country is illegal, then arrest us now."

Immigration choices