Washington – The U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday to build more than 700 miles of fences along the U.S. border with Mexico, as Republicans pushed their election-year strategy of repeatedly highlighting national-security issues.
Lawmakers voted 283-138 for the double-layer fences. The legislation is almost identical to part of a larger House border-security bill that passed last December.
Opponents decried the vote as a pre-election stunt by Republicans who’ve refused to negotiate immigration reform with the Senate, which passed its own legislation in May.
Even proponents of the fences agreed that part of the motivation for Thursday’s vote was to please voters.
“It’s absolutely political, and I’m all for it,” said Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., head of the House immigration caucus that wants tough enforcement of immigration laws.
While attempting to show voters they are strong on border security, Republicans also hope to paint Democrats as weak.
The bill passed with 64 Democrats joining 219 Republicans. That gave the bill a much wider margin of approval than the broader House measure that passed in December on a 239-182 vote. That bill included many provisions Democrats found objectionable, including making it a felony to be in the U.S. illegally. That offense is now a civil violation.
House Republicans plan to force votes on other border-security issues in the next two weeks. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., announced a long list of measures planned for action, including adding 1,200 Border Patrol and 1,212 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, expediting the deportation of illegal immigrants convicted of crimes, and criminalizing the construction of tunnels under the border to smuggle immigrants.
The House wants to underscore the immigration issue and pressure the Senate to pass border-security provisions, Tancredo said. No bill in the Senate parallels the 700-mile-fence legislation passed in the House, but Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., has proposed 370 miles of fencing.
A Senate leadership aide said there was a fair chance some fencing provision could be taken up in the next two weeks before Congress adjourns.
A comprehensive immigration-reform package like the bill approved by the Senate in May appears dead for the year, but “border security clearly is the one thing we’re going to be able to address,” the leadership aide said.
The Senate’s bill would create a pathway to legal status for many illegal immigrants already in the U.S., as well as a guest-worker program for new immigrants. Those provisions are backed by President Bush but opposed by many House Republicans.
The House bill approved Thursday proposes fences along a stretch of border mostly in Arizona. Currently there is 75 miles of double fencing in Southern California.
The bill does not allocate money for the fences, which Republicans say would cost $2 billion and Democrats charge would cost closer to $7 billion.
Colorado’s U.S. House delegation split along party lines on the vote. Republicans Tancredo, of Littleton; Marilyn Musgrave of Fort Morgan; Joel Hefley of Colorado Springs; and Bob Beauprez of Arvada voted for the bill. Democrats Mark Udall of Eldorado Springs, John Salazar of Manassa and Diana DeGette of Denver voted against.
“Instead of working with the Senate to find agreement on comprehensive immigration legislation, the Republicans would rather score political points,” DeGette said.
Online: More Denver Post Washington coverage, and your chance to comment on the news, at our Washington and the West blog: denverpostbloghouse.com/washington
