Thread: GOP holds ground as Dems offer immigration plan

POLITICO

GOP holds ground as Dems offer immigration plan

By KASIE HUNT | 4/29/10 8:34 PM EDT


Democrats are struggling to find even one Republican to sign on to their proposal. AP

Senate Democrats unveiled a comprehensive immigration reform framework Thursday in a political challenge to Republicans — but struggled to find even one Republican to sign on to their proposal.

"I think you've noted the tone here today. We are inviting them to work with us," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. "We just think it's time we stop the nonsense. How can you reasonably answer people around the country that say fix the system and then don't let us fix the system?"

But Republicans immediately condemned the move. "The Senate Democrats' proposal is nothing more than an attempt to score political points. It poisons the well for those of us who are working toward a more secure border and responsible, bipartisan reform of our immigration laws," Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) said in a statement released immediately after the Democrats' press conference.

Joining Reid was Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), the Senate's only Latino. "To my colleagues on the other side of the aisle: I beseech you to join us. This framework has a lot of your ideas. It has things that maybe I wouldn't have written, but I understand what is necessary in order to achieve comprehensive immigration reform," he said.

The announcement comes in the wake of a tough new Arizona immigration law that requires police to ask people for proof of citizenship if the officer has reasonable suspicion to believe the person is in the country illegally. "All eyes are focused on Arizona," said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the Democratic whip.

Reid faces a difficult reelection fight in the fall where Latino turnout and support could be crucial, and the rollout is in part the result of a careful political calculus that looks toward November.

"We need to show to the American people in this election cycle that we have not backed off the major challenges of our time. That we need to solve problems here in Washington, rather than walk away from them or postpone them for another day," Durbin said Thursday.

The issue sharply divides Democrats along geographic lines — and would set up a tough vote for moderates like Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas. "It cuts both ways, I'll be honest with you. There're some who need it and some who don't," Durbin said of the 2010 Democratic Senate candidates.

Lincoln was reluctant to talk about immigration. "We got a lotta work to do, we gotta do it sometime," she told POLITICO.

The expanded framework, based on a series of principles Graham negotiated with Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y), includes provisions aimed at tightening the borders, a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants already in the country that requires registration but not that they return home, and the issuance of Social Security cards with biometric identifiers, an idea attacked by some as a national ID card.

Graham walked away from the negotiations after Reid suggested he would push an immigration bill ahead of comprehensive energy legislation, a schedule Reid has now agreed to reverse. But Graham has said he will not back a bill this year-a move designed in part to help protect Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who is facing a tough Republican primary.

Graham's defection has forced Democrats to look to other moderate Republicans. "Take a look at our proposal, I say to my Republican friends, and I don't direct this to Lindsey Graham only. There are forty other Republicans," Reid said.

Those include Sen. Judd Gregg, (R-N.H.), Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio), and Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), all of whom voted for immigration reform in the past. Schumer said Thursday he had recently spoken with Gregg, who asked for details and expressed concerns about the workforce pieces of the bill.

Schumer insisted the Senate could make legitimate progress on reform-and that Democrats weren't just talking about it to score political points. "Committees of inaction and legislative backwaters are not places in which I thrive. Please," Schumer said, joking about why he agreed to head the Judiciary Committee's immigration panel.

Hope for the bill also rests on Obama's willingness to put political capital on the line. "We can no longer wait to fix our broken immigration system, which Democrats and Republicans alike agree doesn't work," Obama said in a Thursday statement lauding the framework, and noting that it "is consistent with the bipartisan framework presented by Senators Chuck Schumer and Lindsey Graham last month."

But Obama has also acknowledged that the looming November election could doom the effort this year, a concession that suggests he may not be willing to put his full political muscle behind it.

"It's a matter of political will," Obama told reporters onboard Air Force One Wednesday night. "Now, look, we've gone through a very tough year, and I've been working Congress pretty hard. So I know there may not be an appetite immediately to dive into another controversial issue. There's still work that has to be done on energy. Midterms are coming up," he said.

Those elections promise to be tough for moderate House Democrats who have already taken tough votes on healthcare and climate change legislation-and House leaders are warning the president he will have to push hard to get Congress to act.

"[A]s I said when President Bush was president and I'll say it when President Obama is president," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in her weekly news conference Thursday. "If there is going to be any movement in this regard, it will require presidential leadership . as well as the willingness to move forward in the Congress."

Obama and Pelosi will find little support from House Republicans. "There is not a chance that immigration is going to move through the Congress," House Minority Leader John Boehner said Thursday, especially "in the middle of a boiling political pot here in Washington."

Boehner called the immigration push a "cynical ploy" and said he believes Democrats are trying "to engage . some segment of voters to show up in this November's election."

"Even the president last night admitted that this wasn't going to happen. I've been around here for a little while and know that in the middle of an election year, after we've had bills like health care shoved down our throats, and the process twisted, tortured, pressured, bribed, you cannot do a serious piece of legislation of this size with this difficulty in this environment," Boehner said.

Manu Raju and Jake Sherman contributed to this report.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0410/36578.html

Those include Sen. Judd Gregg, (R-N.H.), Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio), and Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), all of whom voted for immigration reform in the past.

Please make sure you call these Senators.

Hope for the bill also rests on Obama's willingness to put political capital on the line. "We can no longer wait to fix our broken immigration system, which Democrats and Republicans alike agree doesn't work," Obama said in a Thursday statement lauding the framework, and noting that it "is consistent with the bipartisan framework presented by Senators Chuck Schumer and Lindsey Graham last month."

No need for new laws, just ENFORCE the ones we already have! At least 70% of voters like SB1070, do it!

Related:
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Reuters
Democrats unveil immigration reform plan
Thomas Ferraro and Tim Gaynor
WASHINGTON/PHOENIX
Thu Apr 29, 2010 10:29pm EDT

Reuters) - Senate Democratic leaders unveiled on Thursday an outline for overhauling the country's "broken" immigration system as protests mounted against Arizona's crackdown on illegal immigrants.

With an estimated 10.8 million people in the United States illegally, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and fellow Democrats said the first step toward reform must be bolstered U.S. border security.

Also on Thursday, the first legal and political challenges to Arizona's controversial new law were filed in the state, and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa endorsed an economic boycott of Arizona by the second-largest U.S. city.

Jose Reyes Baeza, the governor of the Mexican state of Chihuahua, said he would not attend a summit of U.S. and Mexican border leaders set for September in Phoenix and urged other Mexican leaders not to go to the forum.

The Democrats also called for creation of a high-tech identification card for immigrant workers, a process to admit temporary workers, "tough sanctions" against U.S. employers who hire illegal immigrants, and, eventually, a path toward U.S. citizenship for people in the country unlawfully.

The Democratic proposal would "require those here illegally to register with the government, pay taxes, learn English, pass criminal background checks and go to the back of the line to earn legal status," Reid said.

Critics and backers of Arizona's immigration law attribute the state's action to Washington's failure to stem the flow of illegal immigrants to the United States.

The measure, signed into law on April 23, makes it a state crime to be in Arizona illegally. It requires state and local police to determine a person's immigration status if there is "reasonable suspicion" they are in the United States illegally.

Republican backers say the law is needed to curb crime in the desert state, which is home to some 460,000 illegal immigrants and a major corridor for drug and migrant smugglers from Mexico.

Critics say the law opens the door to racial profiling. Although polls show broad support for Arizona's law both in the state and nationally, it has sparked an outcry among Latinos, civil rights activists and organized labor before planned May Day rallies this weekend.

President Barack Obama welcomed the Senate Democratic plan and said, "What has become increasingly clear is that we can no longer wait to fix our broken immigration system."

He said he would work with both Democrats and Republicans on a plan for reform.

Obama's administration said it was considering a court challenge, and Obama has called the law "misguided."

But Obama said on Wednesday that Congress, having dealt with a crush of volatile issues this year, may not have "the appetite now" to tackle immigration reform.

'IMMIGRATION SYSTEM IS BROKEN'

Reid and fellow members of the Senate Democratic leadership made it clear they were ready to try.

Reid acknowledged he would need at least some Republican support to clear any Senate procedural roadblocks.

"Democrats and Republicans can all agree that our immigration system is broken," Reid said, adding bipartisan cooperation was needed to fix it.

Immigration reform, one of the most incendiary issues in U.S. politics, is seen as unlikely to pass in this election year.

Rice University political science professor Mark Jones called the Democrats' drive "unfeasible," noting they had only a limited window before the November congressional elections to pass legislation and had "no Republicans on board."

"What they really want to do is signal to the Latino community that they are strongly behind getting immigration reform passed ... (as) they need to maintain Latino turnout," Jones said.

The Democratic "framework" is based largely on an outline drafted earlier by Democratic Senator Charles Schumer and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. But Graham has complained that Congress is not yet ready to move on it.

Republican Senator Orrin Hatch said the Democratic effort should focus more on border security.

LAWSUITS

In Arizona, a group of activists filed a petition with the secretary of state seeking a measure on the November ballot that would put the law before voters. The group, One Arizona, has until late July or early August to submit the more than 76,000 signatures needed to get the initiative on the ballot.

The first two lawsuits challenging the law were filed in federal courts in Arizona -- one by a Tucson police officer and the other by the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders.

Despite the outcry, a Rasmussen Reports poll on Wednesday found nearly two-thirds -- 64 percent -- of Arizona voters favored the statute. A telephone survey this week showed 60 percent of voters nationwide backed such a law.

Los Angeles' comptroller has identified $7.2 million in potential business ties or contracts that might be severed in a boycott of Arizona.

"The Arizona law is not only misguided, it is unpatriotic and unconstitutional," said Villaraigosa, vice president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and one of the highest-profile U.S. Latino politicians.

(Additional reporting by David Schwartz in Phoenix, Steve Gorman in Los Angeles, Caren Bohan and Richard Cowan in Washington, Andrew Stern in Chicago and Robert Campbell in Mexico City; Writing by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Mohammad Zargham and Peter Cooney)

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63R5HP20100430

Senate Democrats to push new immigration reform plan
From Dana Bash and Ted Barrett, CNN

Washington (CNN) -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other leading Democratic senators will formally unveil the outlines of legislation for comprehensive immigration reform late Thursday, CNN has learned.

Two senior Democratic sources say the Senate Democrats will discuss a proposal drafted by Reid, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer and New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez.

"This is a draft that reflects months of bipartisan work. It is intended to serve as an invitation to Republicans to look at it and sit down to solve problems with us," one of the sources said.

The 26-page draft obtained by CNN attempts to woo GOP senators in part by calling for "concrete benchmarks" to secure the border before granting illegal immigrants the opportunity to gain legal status.

Those benchmarks include: increasing the number of border patrol officers and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, increasing the number of personnel available to inspect for drugs and contraband, and improving technology used to assist ICE agents.

At the same time, "high-tech ground sensors" would be installed across the Mexican border. Officers would be equipped with the "technological capability to respond to activation of the ground sensors in the area they are patrolling," according to the draft.

Fraud-resistant, tamper-resistant biometric Social Security cards would be issued to prevent the hiring of illegal immigrants. Fines for knowingly hiring someone not eligible for employment would be increased by 300 percent. Repeat offenders would face time in prison.

The draft proposal includes a process to legalize an estimated 10.8 million illegal immigrants in the United States. It states that all illegal immigrants living in the United States would be required to "come forward to register, be screened, and, if eligible, complete other requirements to earn legal status, including paying taxes."

Illegal immigrants cleared by federal authorities would be eligible to petition for permanent resident status eight years after current visa backlogs have cleared.

Reid, Schumer, Menendez and three other Democratic senators met Wednesday evening with immigration reform advocates and agreed to hold a news conference Thursday to unveil the draft, CNN has learned.

Other leaders on the issue have been trying to secure elusive GOP support for the push, which is one of President Obama's top domestic priorities. Schumer said Thursday that he is continuing to meet with Republicans on the issue.

But New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, one the Republicans who spoke to Schumer on Thursday, said he "won't do anything on immigration until the administration shows some willingness to address the border issue, and I think so far they have not fulfilled their responsibilities on the border."

Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she told Schumer on Wednesday that before moving ahead with other elements of immigration reform, a "real effort must be made first to secure the border and do all we can there."

Both Gregg and Murkowski said they do not consider themselves "in play" to potentially back the Democratic plan.

Meanwhile, the top Republican in the House dismissed the plan as a political ploy with little chance of passage.

"There is not a chance that immigration is going to move through the Congress," said House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio.

"I've been around here for a little while and know that in the middle of an election year, after we've had bills like health care shoved down our throats ... you cannot do a serious piece of legislation of this size."

The proposal "is nothing more than a cynical ploy to engage voters, some segment of voters, to show up in this November's elections."

Boehner said that although Congress needs to take up the issue of immigration reform, "you can't do it without serious bipartisan conversations and bipartisan discussions."

In arguing that immigration reform cannot pass Congress this year, Boehner referenced Obama's comments on Air Force One on Tuesday night, when the president said "there may not be an appetite immediately to dive into another controversial issue" on Capitol Hill.

"It's a matter of political will," Obama said. "We've gone through a very tough year, and I've been working Congress pretty hard."

Several sources involved in the Democratic effort noted that Reid promised Hispanics in Nevada, a key voting bloc for the majority leader, that he would bring up immigration reform. If the Republicans immediately reject the proposal, they indicated, Reid may have sufficient political cover to not bring the divisive issue to the Senate floor.

A spokesman for Reid took issue Thursday with the assertion that the Senate majority leader is pushing the bill for political reasons.

"Reid's commitment to this issue is genuine and long-standing," Jim Manley said. "Even though people think he's doing this for political reasons, he wants to do this because he believes it is the right thing to do."

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/04/29/ ... migration/