Washington – The House and Senate moved Wednesday toward a piecemeal crackdown on illegal immigration, pushing forward separate bills to require photo identification to vote, build vast fences on the U.S.-Mexico border and speed the deportation of undocumented workers. The measures would take the place of President Bush’s far broader rewrite of immigration laws.
Almost completely along party lines, the House voted 228-196 for a bill that would require all who register to vote in federal elections to show photo identification that proves they are U.S. citizens.
All Colorado House Republicans voted for the bill, while all state Democrats opposed it.
The Senate, meanwhile, voted 94-0 to take up a measure passed by the House last week to build 700 miles of double-layered fencing on the U.S.-Mexico border, with a final vote to come as early as Monday.
Today, the House will take up bills to speed the deportation of undocumented workers, ratchet up penalties for immigrant gang members and human smugglers, end an exemption for Salvadoran illegal immigrants from rapid deportation, criminalize tunneling under the border, and overtly deputize state and local police officers to enforce federal immigration laws.
In an interview on CNN, Bush said he would sign the measures, even though they do not embrace a more comprehensive approach – including a guest-worker program – that he has backed.
“Yes, I’ll sign it into law,” Bush said. “I would view this as an interim step. I don’t view this as a final product.”
Passage of the measures would permit leaders of the Republican-controlled Congress to claim they have taken steps to deal with the flood of illegal immigrants.
It is an issue that has rent the party, spawned huge demonstrations in many cities last spring, and called into question the Republicans’ ability to face tough issues.
GOP leaders also believe that the hardening of legislative lines on illegal immigration and border security will bolster the party’s conservative political support ahead of the midterm elections.
“Border security is national security,” declared House Rules Committee chairman David Dreier, R-Calif., with House GOP leaders by his side.
“We’re going to try our daggonest to enact as many of these bills as we can,” he said.
With little more than a week left before the Sept. 29 start of Congress’ scheduled recess, GOP leaders are considering appending some or all of the bills to must-pass spending measures before they leave town.
But Senate Appropriations Committee chairman Thad Cochran, R-Miss., appeared to close off that avenue Wednesday night, saying he will not add any legislative language to the spending bills that could slow their progress.
The sudden rush of activity startled immigrant and civil rights groups, which had largely thought a legislative response on immigration was dead for the year.
The National Immigration Law Center sent out an “urgent” notice to allies to prod them into action, noting: “In recent days, there has been a serious deterioration of the position of pro-immigrant forces in Congress.”
The lawmakers’ embrace of a piecemeal approach came as members of a private task force on immigration reiterated their belief that a comprehensive solution is necessary to solve the nation’s immigration problems.
The task force’s plan includes strong border enforcement and a program that allows undocumented workers currently in the country to remain by paying a stiff fine.
But it also proposes that the president and Congress establish two federal organizations that would regulate the flow of immigrants and help them assimilate into society.
Former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., who co-chaired the Migration Policy Institute task force with former Sen. Spencer Abraham, R-Mich., said the House’s approach is too draconian against immigrants, while a Senate bill approved in May is too complex.
Most of the provisions in the bills the lawmakers are considering were plucked from the House’s border security and anti-illegal-immigration bill that passed in December.
