US News Reports on Immigration

Here are two articles posted on USNews.com (currently on the front page at http://www.usnews.com/usnews/home.htm) about immigration that might be of interest.  Both are by Silla Brush.

Immigration as a Political Issues In Mid-term Elections

The first is an article looking at how immigration plays as a political issue in 12 House races and 6 Senate races, concluding that in many of these competitive races it is really up to the candidates and that it has yet to reach the boiling point in all of the races.  Here are excerpts:

“In the Southwest for example, immigration is the decisive issue in the race to replace Rep. Jim Kolbe of Arizona, a Republican moderate on the issue. Randy Graf, the Republican leading in the primary, opposes any form of a guest-worker program, placing him to the right of conservatives such as Rep. Tom Tancredo, the Colorado Republican who has led the fight against any legalization measures. But next door in the closest New Mexico race, where one would expect immigration to be equally important given that the district is more than 40 percent Hispanic, the Republican incumbent and the Democratic challenger have both remained moderately quiet on the issue. Rep. Heather Wilson was one of the few Republicans who voted against the conservative bill that passed the House in December that focused specifically on border security; Patricia Madrid, her opponent, has been almost completely mum on the issue. Her campaign says they’ve focused instead on the Medicare prescription drug plan, the war in Iraq, energy shortages, and efforts to take advantage of President Bush’s low approval ratings by linking him with Wilson.”

“Sen. Mike DeWine’s moderate stance on immigration reform is not expected to seriously hurt him, and he isn’t highlighting the issue on the campaign trail. Neither is Democratic opponent Rep. Sherrod Brown. “Immigration is a problem, but Ohioans are most concerned about affording their mortgage, having jobs, and making sure their pension is still around after 30 years at a company,” says Brown spokeswoman Joanna Kuebler.”

Interview With Rep. Sensenbrenner

The second post is an interview with Rep. Sensenbrenner.

Here is an excerpt:

Q:  Are you optimistic that a compromise can be reached?

A: This is the toughest thing that I have ever been asked to do in 27 1/2 years in Congress and 10 years prior to that in the Wisconsin Legislature. I can say that the demonstrations that took place a couple of months ago made the American people more polarized than ever before. But doing nothing is probably the worst of all possible worlds because if we do nothing there will be another 20 million illegal immigrants that enter the country in the next 10 years and that will overcrowd our schools and probably cause a collapse of the healthcare system.

Q:  Do you think it is really possible to deport all the illegal immigrants?

A: No. However, if we shut off the jobs by enforcing employer sanctions, many of the illegal immigrants will simply decide to go home because they cannot make money in the United States. And you will see an attrition. What do you think of the proposal put forth by Rep. Mike Pence, Republican of Indiana, that is getting a lot of attention? It is a compromise that would provide an incentive for illegal immigrants to leave the country and then apply for guest-worker visas in the United States. A: I have not reviewed the Pence proposal. The thing is that the conference committee will be dealing with the House bill and the Senate bill as starters. The Senate has passed a bill; the House has passed its version of a bill. But the Pence bill itself has passed neither house.

For more, check out the website.

KJ