Don't ya just love journalist's headlines sometimes?

http://www.suntimes.com/news/brown/1031 ... 19.article

Illegal immigrants used as pawns in heated campaign rhetoric
(http://www.suntimes.com/news/brown/1031 ... 19.article)

October 19, 2006

BY MARK BROWN Sun-Times Columnist
If you've been watching any television in the last few weeks, you're probably already aware that the last-ditch Republican Party game plan for keeping control of Congress in the November elections is to piggyback on the shoulders of illegal Mexican immigrants.

This is playing out most prominently here in the 6th Congressional District race in the western suburbs, where Republican Peter Roskam and Democrat Tammy Duckworth are vying for the seat now held by retiring U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde.


Ads employ scare tactics
In an attempt to stave off a strong challenge from Duckworth for the long-held Republican seat, Roskam and the National Republican Campaign Committee have saturated the local airwaves with campaign commercials that attempt to exploit immigration concerns and fears. A steady stream of campaign mailings employs the same scare tactics.
The ads depict shadowy figures climbing fences or poorly clad women and children wading across what we can presume to be the Rio Grande. Duckworth is slammed for supporting "Ted Kennedy's amnesty plan" and "higher taxes" to pay for "handouts for illegal aliens." By God, she's even opposed to sending National Guard troops to protect the border.

You'd think Duckworth was from the Planet of Goo-Goo Liberals if you didn't realize she's backing the same proposal co-sponsored by Kennedy and Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican who might be the GOP standard-bearer for president in two years. Or if you didn't know that the comprehensive Senate immigration package also follows the same general approach favored by one George W. Bush. Or if you hadn't heard that Duckworth is a major in the National Guard who lost her legs when a rocket-propelled grenade hit the helicopter she was piloting in Iraq, and happens to think, based on her knowledge and experience, that there are better uses right now for the Guard's manpower and equipment than chasing down Mexican laborers. She'd beef up the Border Patrol instead.

Versions of these Republican tactics are playing out in closely fought Congressional races across the country.

As if the immigrants' burden wasn't heavy enough, now they're carrying the fate of the GOP's targets as well. Too bad they can't charge a fee.

I find this to be somewhere between discouraging and disgusting.

Wisconsin U.S. Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, lead architect of the send-them-back-where-they-came-from approach to immigration reform favored by Roskam, planned to visit our area Wednesday to campaign on Roskam's behalf and help him highlight the immigration issue. Protesters showed up to greet him.

Unfortunately, Sensenbrenner ran into some travel problems and couldn't make it. But if this is the battlefield on which they choose to fight the election, I wouldn't want to let a little thing like a plane schedule get in the way.

Obviously, immigration is a legitimate issue in this campaign. It's definitely on the minds of voters. We're at a crossroads in making a decision on which direction the country will take. But that's no reason to muddy the waters.

Voters in Hyde's district may very well favor Sensenbrenner's get-tough enforcement plan, approved by the House under Speaker J. Dennis Hastert's guidance.

It would make felons of anyone here in the country illegally and make criminals of those who help them. In the helper category, we're not just talking about those who smuggle them across the border but also those who help them live their lives here, which conceivably could be applied to ministers or health- care workers. It was from the House proposal that sprang that new 700-mile symbol of freedom to be constructed on our southern border.

Sensenbrenner's theory is that we'll solve the immigration problem by making life so difficult for the estimated 12 million people living here illegally that they'll give up and go home.


GOP pushing divisive issue
The Senate's immigration plan, the one favored by Duckworth and McCain (and yes, Kennedy), also calls for tougher border measures, but would allow those 12 million illegal immigrants to stay in the country. It would require them to register with the government and earn their legalized status by paying a fine, paying their taxes and learning English, among other requirements. It would take 11 years to clear all the hurdles.
You may consider that a form of amnesty. A lot of people who have studied this issue, though, think that eventually Congress will adopt some version of the Senate approach, because it will have a much better chance to work in the long run than just cracking down.

It just wouldn't have made so divisive a campaign issue for the midterm elections.