Election jitters put House Dems at odds on immigration
by Jerry Kammer - May. 8, 2008 04:42 PM
Gannett News Service

WASHINGTON - House Democratic leaders worried about the November election are seeking to thwart enforcement-only immigration legislation supported by Democrats who represent districts where immigration is a hot-button issue, a leading House liberal said Thursday.

"People who are very committed to comprehensive reform but who are charged with the responsibility for the next elections think about Lou Dobbs and the power of this issue in different local election contests," said Howard Berman, D-Calif.

Dobbs is the CNN anchor who advocates tough action against illegal immigration. He frequently criticizes the "comprehensive" approach, which proposes to couple strict enforcement with a path to citizenship for the nation's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.

Speaking at an immigration policy conference, Berman said leading House Democrats want to avoid a vote on legislation that would require employers nationwide to check the legal status of all workers with a federal verification system. It would also toughen border enforcement and expand the capacity of courts to handle immigration cases.

The bill's chief sponsor is Heath Shuler, a freshman Democrat from North Carolina, where a decade of heavy illegal immigration has roiled the political waters.

Shuler is one of only 10 Democrats who have signed a petition that seeks to force House leaders to schedule a vote on his bill. Meanwhile, 178 Republicans have put their names on the petition, bringing it within 30 signatures of the 218 it needs to force the issue.

The issue has split Arizona's delegation on party lines. The four Republicans have signed it, while the four Democrats have not.

Two of the Democrats, Harry Mitchell of Tempe and Gabrielle Giffords of Tucson, are freshmen who won their 2006 races against hardliners on illegal immigration.

Berman said the measure would likely pass in the House, with support from nearly all Republicans and a group of Democrats determined to pre-empt campaign ads that might brand them as soft on illegal immigration.

Berman noted that the Democrats took back the majority of the House in the 2006 election by taking a block of conservative-leaning districts away from Republicans. These members, along with others from districts not regarded as safely Democratic "are very nervous about this," said Berman.

In the face of such concerns, Democratic leaders "have been working very hard to keep our Democrats from signing" the petition, said Berman.

Berman said efforts at piecemeal changes in immigration policy are also paralyzed in the House. They include a proposal to expand the program for temporary workers in service industry jobs, an effort to provide citizenship to undocumented immigrants who entered the country as small children, and a plan to provide legal status to up to 1.5 million farm workers plus their immediate relatives.

While the proposal to expand the temporary worker program has broad support, it has been checked by members of the Hispanic Caucus, who fear that piecemeal measures would undermine their efforts to win a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

"We're in a standoff," Berman said.

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