Immigration Battle on Capitol Hill
by James R. Edwards Jr. (more by this author)
Posted 04/10/2008 ET


Immigration has become a thorny issue for congressional Democrats, with a Democrat-sponsored enforcement bill competing for the party leadership’s blessing with an amnesty proposal by the leader of the Hispanic Caucus.

House Democratic leaders face a bitter civil war over immigration issues. Blue Dog Democrats, who tend to be more conservative, stand behind H.R. 4088, the Secure America through Verification and Enforcement Act (SAVE), but the chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Rep. Joe Baca (Calif.), and open-borders Democrats favor some form of amnesty for the 12 million illegal aliens. The SAVE Act is sponsored by Blue Dog Rep. Heath Shuler, (D-N.C). It takes an enforcement-only approach to illegal immigration and shutting off the “jobs magnet.â€