Immigration: Presidential candidates walk fine line
DIVIDED ELECTORATE
By Javier Erik Olvera
jolvera@mercurynews.com
Mercury News

http://origin.mercurynews.com


Perhaps no moment in the presidential campaign has underlined the complexities of the immigration debate better than last month's war of words between Republicans Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani.

During a live GOP debate, Romney accused Giuliani of making New York City a safe haven for illegal immigrants, while the former New York City mayor said his opponent employed them at his Massachusetts home.

The clash exposed the dilemma the candidates face: They can't afford to look soft on illegal immigration, yet they can't ignore that millions of illegal immigrants are a pivotal part of the American workforce.

Immigration continues to be one of the nation's most contentious issues, with Congress failing to pass a comprehensive immigration bill in June, and presidential candidates trying to strike the right balance.

Graphic:Click Here Where the candidates stand on immigration.

"The ultimate trick is straddling the fence while standing firm," said Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College and a former Republican Party official.

Republicans are taking an aggressive approach by, among other things, proposing to deny federal funds to cities that do not enforce immigration laws. Democrats, meanwhile, are trying to appear neither too soft nor too harsh, proposing plans to secure borders while creating paths toward citizenship.

Huge interest


A recent Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll shows just how significant the immigration
issue has become, with 81 percent of Americans saying they believe it's important.
That same poll also underscores the issue's divisiveness. One in three say most social services should be denied to illegal immigrants, while three in five support giving them a path to citizenship with certain caveats.

Because of that, candidates are learning that discussing the issue can be a political minefield.

Democrat Hillary Clinton hit a snag in late October when she was asked if she supported New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's now-dead proposal to give driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

The New York senator stumbled without giving a direct answer before coming out firmly against the plan a few weeks later - a gap experts say could have made supporters of an ID program question her sincerity.

Her main opponent, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, accused Clinton of flip-flopping. He has since come out in favor of driver's licenses, distinguishing his position from Clinton's, but risking the loss of votes from more moderate party members.

Pitney said the immigration issue is one reason Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona slipped in the polls after coming out strongly last summer in support of a crumbling immigration compromise plan.

The bipartisan compromise, which was pushed by President Bush and fell apart after a June test vote, called for a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

Republicans, wanting a tougher approach to end illegal immigration, pulled away from McCain. He is now trailing former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Giuliani in national polls.

One drops out

U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo was among the most vocal opponents of illegal immigration, but the long-shot candidate from Colorado dropped out of the GOP race Thursday.

Huckabee, who has recently become a stronger contender for the GOP nomination, has articulated one of the clearest stances against illegal immigration, in sharp contrast to Romney and Giuliani.

In fact, Giuliani, who once set policies that barred New York city officials from reporting illegal immigrants, only recently released his views in a campaign commercial airing in the East Coast.

In the commercial, Giuliani said the nation needs leadership to fix the problems, including building a border fence, training Border Patrol agents and allowing illegal immigrants to pursue citizenship after they learn to speak English as well as U.S. history.

Giuliani's original stance on illegal immigration helped fuel his dispute with Romney, which came to a head during the live CNN/YouTube debate in St. Petersburg, Fla., late last month.

The two didn't hold back, with Romney saying Giuliani promoted illegal immigration by turning New York City into a sanctuary for illegal immigrants, while Giuliani called Romney's home a "sanctuary mansion."

Romney, who has used immigration as a key point in his campaign for presidency, later fired his landscaper, saying he learned that the landscaper employed illegal immigrants.

Analysts and political commentators questioned whether Romney could effectively overhaul immigration if he didn't know what was going on in his own back yard.

Such disputes can hurt candidates, said political analyst Tony Quinn, co-editor of the California Target Book, a non-partisan analysis of state politics. The exchange focused more on the candidates discrediting each other than on proposing solutions.

Voters want someone who can solve problems across party lines, especially when it comes to immigration, an issue that is becoming more heated in other parts of the country that have seen increasing numbers of immigrants.

States like North Carolina, for example, experienced a five-fold increase from 1990 to 2000, U.S. Census data shows.

There has also been a growth of Ku Klux Klan membership in cities like Charlotte, which has felt the brunt of the wave, according to the Charlotte Observer.

Republican candidates, Quinn said, risk having their tough stands on illegal immigration construed as anti-Latino.

More than half of the estimated illegal immigrants living this country are of Latino descent, with the majority of them coming from Mexico, statistics show.

Latinos - who comprise about 15 percent of the U.S. population of 301 million and about 9 percent of the electorate - could make a difference if they turn out against Republicans.

In the end, Pitney said, "Immigration is about who we are as a people. It will help determine what each party is about. It forces each side to determine what it is to be an American."



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