GOP divided over immigration
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.
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 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.
Tensions have already run high among Senate Republicans who have been immersed in negotiations over the bill. Presidential aspirant Sen. John McCain, 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.”
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 Rudolph 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.”