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Pederson, Kyl trade barbs on amnesty

Robbie Sherwood
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 19, 2006 12:00 AM

In a powerful new campaign commercial, six Arizona county sheriffs stand with U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl and rip into Democratic challenger Jim Pederson for praising immigration reforms passed 20 years ago that included amnesty for undocumented immigrants.

Over and over again the sheriffs, a mix of Republicans and Democrats, repeat the same refrain.

"Jim Pederson supported amnesty," Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever, a Democrat, says in the widely aired ad.

The problem is, so did Kyl.

At the least, Kyl expressed general support for a three-pronged 1986 immigration bill that included amnesty for many undocumented immigrants, employer sanctions and more Border Patrol agents after it passed, according to a newspaper story from that year about his first run for Congress.

In the Scottsdale Progress article, reporter Susan Keaton paraphrased Kyl calling the immigration bill "an important step in stemming the flow of illegal aliens into the country. "

Keaton also wrote that Kyl and his then-opponent, Democrat Phil Davis, had unspecified problems with the immigration law, but that Kyl "generally supports it" while Davis did not.

Pederson used the 20-year-old news story Monday to call the new Kyl ads "misleading," and Kyl used it to defend his record on immigration as consistent.

"Senator Kyl said that he had problems with the 1986 law, and he voted against amnesty," Kyl campaign manager Jaime Molera said. "Twenty years later, Jim Pederson thinks the 1986 law was effective. Jim Pederson showed poor judgment in saying that the law is effective years after it has been proven a failure."

Lawmakers had approved that immigration bill before Kyl won office. Once in office, Kyl was not at first a vocal critic of the law and worked to try to implement its provisions. However, in 1990, Kyl did vote along with most Republicans against extending the amnesty provisions in the law for six months.

"The only candidate in the race for U.S. Senate that truly supported the 1986 amnesty bill is Jon Kyl," Pederson campaign spokesman Mark Bergman, said, referring to the Scottsdale Progress story. "Jim Pederson does not support the 1986 amnesty bill, and he never has."

Pederson opened the door for criticism over the 1986 immigration reforms when, during a radio interview in April, he said, "The last effective measure that passed Congress was in 1986, 20 years ago, and people like Senator Kyl have sat back there and done nothing."

Pederson said he has never supported amnesty for undocumented immigrants, though he said other aspects of the law including border security and employer sanctions were good ideas.

Pederson's immigration plan includes employer sanctions and a guest-worker plan in which undocumented workers and their family members in the country could apply for citizenship after six years, provided they obey the law, pay a fee and learn English.

Bergman said Pederson's plan is a far cry from the blanket amnesty Congress granted to approximately 5 million illegal immigrants in 1986.

Those Reagan-era immigration reforms were widely praised at first but have been branded a failure in practice.

Critics on the right have blamed the amnesty provisions for encouraging an increase in illegal immigration over the past two decades, and critics on the left have blamed poorly enforced employer sanctions for the problems.

Kyl has taken a harder stance on immigration. He co-sponsored a measure this year that, along with increasing border security, would have required all 10 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants to sign up for a "mandatory departure" program.

Signing up would allow them to remain in the countryfor up to five years, but they would have to leave at the end of that time and apply to re-enter the country as guest workers.