10/21/2007
Illegal immigration could be firecracker for Senate candidates
By ANNA JO BRATTON

Associated Press Writer

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (AP) -- After watching Nebraska icon Tom Osborne get scorched in the GOP gubernatorial primary last year, candidates are choosing their words carefully when it comes to illegal immigration.

"There's no question, this is an issue at the forefront of Nebraskans' minds," said Republican Jon Bruning, the state attorney general, who has declared his U.S. Senate intentions.

The wrong position "can drag a politician down real quick," said John Rolfsmeyer, 56, a Democratic voter from Ravenna.

Osborne learned that the hard way when Gov. Dave Heineman stunned the state by beating Osborne and winning the primary.

Many voters said they chose Heineman over Osborne, a sitting U.S. representative and wildly popular former Nebraska football coach, because Osborne supported a bill in the Legislature to give in-state tuition to children who don't have legal status.

"I didn't care for it, not when I had to put two through (college) myself -- I worked four jobs," said Randy Salman, 57, a Republican who works in maintenance at Central Community College in Grand Island.

Between 2000 and 2004, the increase in the state's Hispanic population accounted for 70 percent of overall growth. The influx has revitalized many Midwest communities that are losing young people to larger cities.

But the new population, composed of legal and illegal immigrants, also has polarized towns.

"We're not natives any more," said Duane Porter, 64, sitting at the Farmer's Daughter cafe in Grand Island with Rolfsmeyer. "We're in the minority."

That sentiment and others have voters demanding answers from local and national candidates alike.

Republican presidential contender Rudy Giuliani has toughened his stance, saying recently that all immigrants who want to become U.S. citizens should learn English. Republican John McCain's campaign foundered during the summer amid the backlash from his support of reform legislation that would have legalized as many as 12 million unlawful immigrants while fortifying the border.

Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton criticized that immigration bill, which also would have penalized those who help illegal immigrants. Clinton said: "It would have criminalized the good Samaritan. It would have criminalized Jesus Christ."

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama urged California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to sign a bill to make illegal immigrants who graduate from high school eligible for college aid.

In Nebraska, a solidly Republican state, the candidates to replace Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel are making sure voters know where their sympathies lie.

"The citizens of America are saying they won't tolerate amnesty," Republican Mike Johanns said in an interview. "Anyone who is not hearing that, I think, needs to listen."

Johanns, a former Nebraska governor, resigned last month as U.S. agriculture secretary and entered the Senate race.

All illegal residents must be sent back to their native countries and apply for legal status, Bruning said, even if that means families are divided when members are deported.

"It's no different than separating someone who's chosen to rob a bank from their families by incarcerating them," he said.

Republican candidate Pat Flynn, a Schuyler businessman, said the United States needs to enforce the immigration laws on the books, hold employers accountable and deport illegal immigrants one by one if needed.

Bruning said Johanns has flip-flopped on the issue, campaigning as agriculture secretary for President Bush's failed immigration legislation.

There are no Democrats in the race yet.

Listening to what people want to hear about immigration could be a key to winning elections, state or national.

Jim Link, a Bellevue mortgage consultant and a Republican, doesn't like the idea of deporting parents whose children are legal residents, and he doesn't want the debate to deteriorate into buzzwords.

"Amnesty is becoming a word that people don't want to have to embrace, but unless you come up with an alternative, then you are just going to take amnesty and call it something else," said Link, 54.

The cost of illegal immigration for taxpayers is a sticking point for many.

"If they're drawing on the social system and they're illegal, they shouldn't be able to do that," said Tricia Stephens, 41, a Grand Island Republican.

Donna Anderson, 50, another Grand Island Republican, agreed. "Where do you draw the line?" She wants a senator who will fight to make English the national language.

Stephens wants to be sure that if illegal immigrants break the law -- for instance by getting fake documentation -- "they need to be sent back."

Maria Hines, 36, who works with the Central District Health Department, said she sees both sides of the issue.

She came to Grand Island on a visa five years ago from Mexico, married an American and now has two children. She's a permanent resident and is saving money to apply for citizenship.

On the one hand, "I don't want my kids to learn that something done wrong can be considered right if it's convenient."

But she sees illegal immigrants struggling to keep their families afloat.

"I would like to hear ... good ideas on how can we work to help people, not have them running like criminals from one country to another," said Hines, who said she doesn't support a particular political party.

Rolfsmeyer, the Ravenna Democrat, welcomes immigrants "as long as they want to come to our cities and live by our standards."

Whatever politicians say when they roll through Grand Island doesn't convince Rolfsmeyer's friend Porter that anything is going to change. People will keep coming illegally as long as there are jobs, Porter said.

The problem with the debate, said Suzanne Curran Carney, is so often the rhetoric begins to sound racist.

"We are a country of laws," said the 62-year-old Grand Island Democrat. But "we are a country of immigrants."

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