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Bush calls for amnesty for illegal aliens { May 2007 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.mercurynews.com/politics/ci_5935525http://www.mercurynews.com/politics/ci_5935525
GOP ranks split over immigration legislation
AGREEMENT CALLED A `FORM OF AMNESTY'
By Michael Abramowitz
Washington Post
San Jose Mercury News
Article Launched:05/19/2007 01:30:00 AM PDT
WASHINGTON - President Bush's embrace of compromise immigration legislation has split the Republican Party, as several GOP presidential candidates quickly came out against the deal and the conservative base reacted with fury.
Key figures on the right, including conservative talk-radio hosts, analysts at the Heritage Foundation and National Review columnists, derided the agreement as a sell-out of conservative principles, while GOP presidential candidates criticized the plan as a form of amnesty - a characterization rejected by the White House.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who last year said similar efforts for a comprehensive immigration bill were "reasonable," called the deal reached this week the "wrong approach" to the problem. "Any legislation that allows illegal immigrants to stay in the country indefinitely, as the new `Z visa' does, is a form of amnesty," he said.
Although the White House is also facing an uproar on the left, the conservative reaction underscores both the volatile role immigration continues to play in GOP politics and the fact that Bush has encountered only mixed success in moving his party toward a vision of an open, pro-immigrant society he has promoted since he was governor of Texas. Bush once hoped the vision might help realign American politics by bringing Latinos into the GOP tent, but as it is, GOP opposition is a key impediment to his realizing a final big domestic victory before the end of his presidency.
Anticipated uproar
White House officials said they fully anticipated the conservative reaction and acknowledge they face a big challenge in educating even their strongest supporters about a bill that would provide increased border security, create a temporary-worker program and allow many of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants a chance to earn a green card if they pay fines and return first to their country of origin. The Senate will debate the measure next week, with the House expected to take up the issue sometime in the summer.
Tensions already have run high among Senate Republicans who have been immersed in negotiations over the bill. Presidential aspirant Sen. John McCain of Arizona, one of the Senate's strongest champions for the immigration bill, has been pilloried by his rivals for pushing a comprehensive approach to the issue. In a bipartisan meeting on the bill Thursday morning, the tensions apparently boiled over.
According to several sources, McCain and John Cornyn, R-Texas, got into a shouting match when Cornyn began voicing concerns about the number of judicial appeals illegal immigrants could receive. After McCain swore at Cornyn and accused him of trying to blow up the pact, Cornyn accused the presidential candidate of "parachuting" into the negotiations at the last minute.
McCain, who helped craft an immigration deal last year in the Senate, but has been represented by staff in most meetings this year, blew up at Cornyn, saying, "I know more about this than anyone else in the room."
Administration officials said they have addressed many of the concerns conservatives had with previous immigration legislation: Under the proposal, for instance, the provisions making it possible for illegal immigrants to stay in the United States would only go into effect after stringent new border-control provisions are implemented.
Another change from last year's bill mandates that migrants participating in a new guest-worker program would have to leave the country after their short-term work visas expire, with no way to petition for permanent residence. That helped win over Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., another past critic of immigration legislation.
Democratic leaders
A senior White House official said objections raised by Democratic leaders pose as much danger to the legislation as the conservative concerns. He said he remains uncertain whether Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, are willing to allow Bush a Rose Garden signing ceremony on such a major issue.
"It is completely within the control of the Democratic leadership whether this bill passes or not," said this official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss strategy more openly.
The danger for the White House is that any change in the delicately crafted compromise could cause the whole deal to collapse. The administration already has angered traditional allies in the business community with the concessions aimed at mollifying conservative senators.
Employers do not like a guest-worker program that would offer work visas for only two years at a time. The visas could be renewed up to three times, but workers would have to leave the country for a year between renewals. Business groups said such interruptions would defeat the purpose of the program, which is to attract and retain a stable workforce in fields where U.S. workers are scarce.
`Scrap this bill'
Meanwhile, most of the other Republican candidates for president besides McCain strongly condemned the deal. Former Sen. Fred Thompson, who is mulling a White House bid, urged Congress to "scrap this bill and the whole debate until we can convince the American people that we have secured the borders or at least have made great headway." Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is also mulling a bid, called the arrangement a "disastrous bill" and said the upcoming Senate vote would be a "defining moment" for the Republican Party.
"I can't imagine anybody running for president being nominated if they support this bill," Gingrich said in an interview.
In the past, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has been an outspoken immigration advocate, speaking frequently to pro-immigrant groups and opposing federal measures to crack down on illegal immigration. But a statement from his communications director offered no endorsement of the new bill and stressed the security implications of immigration: "Rudy's top priority and main objective is to ensure our borders are secure and to stop potential terrorists and criminals from coming in."
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