GOP will feel heat at home in August on immigration

Alan Gomez, USA TODAY 12:42 a.m. EDT August 1, 2013

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Tomas Martinez, of Atlanta, chants during a rally in front of the White House on July 24, calling for of immigration reform.(Photo: Evan Vucci, AP)

"This is the beginning of a long, hot summer for the House of Representatives," said Eliseo Medina of the Service Employees International Union, a labor union that supports the Senate's immigration bill.

Republicans will also face pressure from Tea Party groups and other opponents of the Senate immigration bill.

Roy Beck, president of NumbersUSA, says his group, which advocates lower levels of legal and illegal immigration, hosted a teleconference with Reps. Steve King, R-Iowa, Steve Stockman, R-Texas, and Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., on Wednesday night to rally opponents to mobilize for the August recess.

Beck said there were 40,000 people on the call.

"Obviously, they've got all of this money and all of these organizations and everything else, but we've got over 2 million members. We're in every district," Beck said. "And they've got a tough road to hoe. They've got to change representatives' minds. We're more in a situation of needing to hold people. It's always better to try to hold people to a position."

GOP leaders said Republicans are looking forward to facing voters on the issue.

"Our members will be well-prepared to talk with constituents about this important issue," said Nate Hodson, a spokesman for Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., chairwoman of the House Republican Conference.

House committees have passed five immigration-related bills that focus on enhancing border security, providing visas for high-tech and agricultural workers and enhancing the ability of state and local law enforcement to enforce immigration laws.

The Senate bill allows the nation's unauthorized immigrants to apply for U.S. citizenship, adds $46 billion to secure the border and revamps nearly every other portion of the nation's immigration laws.

Supporters of an overhaul of immigration laws say House Republicans are focusing too much on border security and not on a pathway to citizenship for the nation's undocumented immigrants, which is a focus of the Senate plan.

On Monday, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is scheduled to give a pro-immigration speech at the premier of the film Documented, which was directed by Jose Antonio Vargas, an immigration activist. A group of religious leaders will take a bus tour through Republican districts in the Midwest.

Clarissa Martinez of the National Council of La Raza, which supports legalization of all unauthorized immigrants, said a coalition of groups will host 360 different events in 52 congressional districts around the country during the recess.

Meanwhile, some Republican donors and business groups will try to influence GOP members as well.

Republicans for Immigration Reform, a group formed by former GOP Commerce secretary Carlos Gutierrez, sent a letter with other GOP donors this week to members of the House urging passage of a bill. Charlie Spies, a former fundraiser for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, said that was an attempt to add to the "grass-roots" approach by swaying members with their "grasstops" approach.

"We're going to focus on engagement with constituents and business leaders who have actual relationships with members," Spies said. "You won't see us busing people in to town halls."

Republicans such as King say the border must be secured first before people in the USA illegally are offered citizenship. And some Tea Party affiliates plan to make sure representatives hear from the opponents to what they say is an "amnesty" for people who broke the law to be here.

"It's not a battle that we picked," said Tea Party Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth Martin, referring to her group's typical focus on government spending.

"It isn't an issue that was even on the front burner for us. But because of what the Senate has done and the House is now doing, it's something that we have to pay attention to."

Martin said her group is working closely with NumbersUSA and others to hold rallies, attend town-hall-style forums and ensure that Republican members of Congress know the opposition they'll face if they support any kind of immigration reform they don't approve of.

"We've said all along that we're going to hold people accountable," Martin said. "We're holding them accountable."

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