http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/14313090.htm

U.S. CONGRESS
Martinez agenda on immigration not selling well to Florida delegationFlorida's congressional delegation is split on how to handle immigration reform.
BY LESLEY CLARK
lclark@MiamiHerald.com
WASHINGTON - Republican Sen. Mel Martinez may be a key player for comprehensive immigration reform in the U.S. Senate, but he may not carry as much influence with his Florida colleagues in the U.S. House.

Even with protests in the streets in South Florida and across the country Monday, some Republican members of the House showed little enthusiasm for embracing the sweeping immigration reform effort that Martinez championed.

Indeed, nearly every Republican member of the Florida delegation voted last December in favor of legislation that the protests were aimed at derailing.

Only South Florida Republican Reps. Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen -- along with the six Florida Democrats -- voted against the House measure that calls for building a fence along the U.S.-Mexico border and making felons out of illegal aliens. Miami Republican Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart missed the vote but has said he supports the Martinez bill to provide a chance at citizenship.

Martinez has warned his fellow Republicans that they risk wiping out GOP gains made among Hispanic voters by failing to provide illegal immigrants with an opportunity to earn citizenship. But many legislators said they are first interested in stemming the tide of illegal immigration by securing the borders and enforcing existing laws.

''Enforcement has to come first,'' said Charlie Keller, a spokesman for Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, a Brooksville Republican who last week stood with Rep. Tom Tancredo, a Colorado Republican who has championed border enforcement. ``Without addressing the border first, you won't stop the underlying problem of people coming over.''

A spokeswoman for Rep. Clay Shaw said Monday that the Fort Lauderdale Republican is ''concerned about illegal immigrants'' and would consider a temporary foreign guest-worker program, ``but not one that leads to citizenship.''

Republican Rep. Adam Putnam of Bartow, though, is ''very intrigued'' by the Martinez legislation, said spokesman John Hambel.

Putnam considers enforcement ''the most important part of the puzzle,'' Hambel said, but he's also interested in a temporary guest worker program and ''figuring out what to do'' with the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants already in the United States.

A spokesman for Sen. Bill Nelson said the Democrat was inclined to back Martinez's bill. His Republican rival, Rep. Katherine Harris, voted for the House bill but has said she was not satisfied with every element of the legislation.

Martinez in an interview Friday said he remains optimistic about the chances for a bill that combines tightening the borders with a method for giving some of the nation's illegal immigrants a shot at citizenship.