Arizona politicians in a tizzy over immigration

Immigration emergencies
Last year, Napolitano and Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico declared immigration emergencies in their border counties. Napolitano recently signed an order to expand the National Guard’s presence at Arizona’s porous border.

At a news conference this week, Napolitano praised McCain’s bill while calling Kyl’s approach “a fictional system.” She chastised the GOP-led House for passing a bill that focuses solely on border reinforcement rather than also dealing with illegal immigrants already working in the U.S.

“The House bill is a terrible bill for Arizona,” she said.

The backbiting didn’t stop there.

Hayworth accused fellow Republicans of carrying water for business interests who want the cheap labor provided by guest-worker provisions.

“It’s the ultimate corporate welfare scam,” he said on the “Imus in the Morning” television and radio program.

Flake, a guest-worker supporter, objected when Hayworth’s plan was called conservative. “I don’t think it’s conservative to ignore the problem,” he told The Associated Press. “If you don’t have a plan to deal with those here illegally now, that’s a huge part of the problem.”

The political stakes are huge. Hispanics are the fastest-growing group of voters, and President Bush has helped double the GOP’s share of the Hispanic vote since 2000.

'Sensitive times,' says McCain
McCain said those gains are at risk. “This issue has galvanized the Hispanic population in Arizona,” he said, pointing to protests this week in Arizona and several other states against the crackdown on illegal immigration.

“First, this is a warning to my party that we have to be sensitive about this issue,” McCain told The AP. “Secondly, the Hispanic community risks a backlash if it become unruly or too many Hispanic flags — and not enough American flags — are at these protests.”

“These are sensitive times.”

Sensitive, indeed, for McCain and other candidates lining up for 2008 presidential bids. They include Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who staked out a position to the right of McCain, and Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who accused House Republicans of passing a bill that would criminalize “even Jesus himself.”

Polls show the issue has the potential to divide Democrats as well as Republicans. Many working-class Democrats resent what they consider to be a constant flow of cheap labor. The hard-line House bill was backed by 36 Democrats, including those considered most in danger of losing their seats in November.

Still, the fear is most palpable among GOP leaders. Republican Party chairman Ken Mehlman said his party’s challenge is to improve border security “and do it in a way that is pro-immigrant.”

“Franklin Roosevelt built a durable Democratic coalition because large groups of American Catholics, Jews and ethnics” who otherwise shared Republicans values “were convinced that the Republican Party did not like them,” Mehlman said. “So we have to be careful.”

These being sensitive times, Mehlman was speaking on the telephone from Phoenix, where he was meeting with Hispanics.

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