http://www.mcall.com/news/opinion/all-e ... iontop-hed

Debate over illegal immigration comes home with surprising twists

Congress may be deadlocked on what to do about illegal immigration, but in the last week there was plenty of other talk on the subject. One surprising thing is how illegal immigration — logically a concern across a nation's borders — also has become a state and local topic.

Part of the reason the discussion moved out of Washington is because members of the House and Senate took it there. Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Pa. and Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., held a hearing in Philadelphia to listen to mayors and others. The senators are trying to build support for the Senate's version of illegal immigration legislation that emphasizes a guest-worker program and a means for many of the 12 million illegal immigrants already here to proceed toward citizenship. (This also is the approach favored by President Bush.)

Meanwhile, Rep. Ed Joyce, R-Calif., held a hearing at a U.S. Border Patrol station in southern California. He and fellow House Republicans are trying to promote their approach to the issue, which emphasizes more border security.

Some Democrats discounted the value of the illegal immigration hearings, more of which are planned. They argue that the Republicans are trying to substitute the media attention that they attract for the hard work of making sure that a House-Senate conference committee reaches a compromise. Rep. Dana Rohrbacher, R-Calif., commented, ''This issue will be decided in the next three years, not the next three months,'' and said a compromise will not be reached before the November elections.

Rep. Rohrbacher has been deeply involved in the issue, and if he is right about the time line, that is bad news to some. One would be Louis Barletta, mayor of Hazleton, who testified before Sen. Specter's meeting in Philadelphia. Mr. Barletta asked for Congress's help in his city's efforts to deal with illegal immigrants, including penalizing landlords who rent to them. But, the senators also heard from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who estimated that of his city's 3 million immigrants, 500,000 are there illegally. Mr. Bloomberg said, however, that New York's economy would collapse if they were deported.

There is one other illegal immigration ripple worth noting. Sen. Rick Santorum has made illegal immigration the topic of the first TV ad in his re-election campaign. The ad charges his Democratic challenger, Bob Casey Jr., with siding ''with Ted Kennedy and the other liberals.'' The bill Sen. Santorum objects to was written by Sen. Specter, of course. This isn't the first issue upon which Pennsylvania's Republican senators disagree, and Sen. Specter commented, ''Sen. Santorum is entitled to his views.''

Good election strategy? In a series of national polls over the last two months, illegal immigration ranked third or fourth among top concerns among likely voters, behind the economy, Iraq and health care. Polls also show that opinions vary by state, with the obvious southern and southwestern states having the biggest worries. But the case being made by Hazleton Mayor Barletta and his coal region colleagues, and the political course steered by Sen. Santorum, show that at least some officials in this state consider it top-of-mind too — at least until Washington makes up its mind.


Copyright © 2006, The Morning Call
Folks, Isn't the SPP and the North American Union due for completion in 2010? If it's implementation isn't stopped!?