Washington – Comprehensive immigration reform appears dead for the year, as House Republicans on Thursday announced plans to push ahead with border security measures and leave everything else for another time.
Facing a tight schedule and sharp divisions within their own ranks, GOP leaders will stick with border-enforcement priorities that can be passed before the November election.
“The intention of the House is to secure the borders,” House Speaker Dennis Hastert said Thursday afternoon after meeting with his leadership team. “We need to find the things that we can do to secure the border, before we have a guest-worker program or any other kind of (legalization) program.”
The proposals – including new fencing, stiffer penalties and more Border Patrol agents – will be aired next week.
In an unusual public-relations maneuver, House Republican leaders will listen to testimony offered by the chairmen of House committees that held hearings in August.
The House plans to approve the border measures, some included in annual appropriations bills, before the scheduled Sept. 29 adjournment date.
“We need to solve first problems first,” Hastert said.
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., a chief architect of the Senate bill, said the House plan for more legislation “has more to do with solving a political problem for Republicans than solving our immigration problem.”
Kennedy joined thousands of people who rallied on the National Mall to push for a comprehensive immigration bill. The crowd chanted “Sí, se puede,” which translates to “Yes, we can.” But some were skeptical anything will change soon.
“If we go back to the civil rights movement, people had to march for years and years to get something,” said Jaime Castillo, chairman of the National Capital Immigration Council.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
