Democrats Divided on Immigration Strategy

As the Democratic Party prepares to take power on Capitol Hill in January, tensions are surfacing over the details of plans to overhaul the nation’s immigration policies.

Statements by incoming members such as Claire McCaskill, the Democratic senator-elect from Missouri, could provide an early warning of the difficulties ahead.

In a September television spot, McCaskill sat at a kitchen table and looked directly into the camera. “Let me tell you what I believe in,” she said. “No amnesty for illegal immigrants.”

Democratic leaders presented a largely united front on immigration this year, providing crucial support for a measure that would have allowed illegal immigrants to gain citizenship — a bill critics attacked as “amnesty.”

Now, the citizenship provision is just one of several aspects of the complex debate that are being questioned by some members. Click here.

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