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 News from Around the Americas | July 2007 
Senate Standoff May Doom Border Funding
 Andrew Taylor - Associated Press
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| | Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrest an illegal alien in an April 2007 image. Thousands of immigrants in Arizona are wondering how to respond to a pending crackdown on undocumented workers since the defeat of an immigration bill in the Senate last month. (Reuters/ICE) |
Washington - A standoff in the Senate on Wednesday seemed to doom $3 billion in widely backed funds aimed at gaining control over the porous U.S.-Mexico border.
It started with an end-run by Republicans to pass some of the most popular elements of President Bush's failed immigration bill, including a plan to increase security along the southern border.
Democrats liked the money but objected to such GOP proposals as allowing law enforcement officers to question people about their immigration status and cracking down on those who overstay their visas.
The move put political pressure on Senate Democrats. They killed Sen. Lindsey Graham's plan on a 52-44 procedural vote, but Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., immediately countered with a pared-down proposal containing only the border security funds. Then Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a Bush ally, killed that effort.
Dying with the proposals could be hopes for seizing "operational control" over the U.S.-Mexico border with additional Border Patrol agents, vehicle barriers, border fencing and observation towers.
The battle began when Graham, R-S.C., and other Republicans tried to resurrect the border security plan and combine it with the GOP policy provisions from last month's immigration debate.
Graham sought to add the GOP immigration plan — over White House opposition — to a pending bill to fund the budget for the Homeland Security Department.
The underlying bill had already drawn a veto threat for breaking Bush's budget. White House spokesman Scott Stanzel noted that Wednesday's plan would not have been financed by fines on illegal immigrants as were comparable provisions from the broader bill that died last month; it therefore would have added $3 billion to the deficit.
Stanzel declined to comment further, but Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., had earlier told reporters that the White House opposed the additional funds.
Reid's compromise plan seemed to be viewed favorably by many senators. Cornyn said he wanted some of the money used for going after immigrants who had entered the United States legally but had overstayed their visas.
Graham and GOP allies such as Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona had argued during last month's hotly contested immigration debate that a comprehensive approach to immigration reform was the only way to attract bipartisan support to such a polarizing issue.
In the wake of the failure to pass the comprehensive bill — decried as "amnesty" by conservative talk radio and opposing lawmakers — Graham and the others changed their minds and offered the border security plan, combined with the tough GOP policy provisions.
Graham and Kyl said the public won't accept more controversial elements, especially the plan to give million of illegal immigrants a way to earn U.S. citizenship, until the border with Mexico is made more secure.
"Border security is the gate that you must pass through to get to overall comprehensive reform," said Graham, who is up for re-election next year and facing political heat at home for backing Bush's unpopular immigration plan.
Democrats such as Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts had supported designating $4.4 billion for border security as a way of drawing wider backing for the compromise bill. On Wednesday, though, Kennedy objected to Graham's move to unravel the broader immigration bill.
"We have tried enforcement-only approaches for 10 years now," said Kennedy. "And what have been the results? Twelve million people are in the United States illegally." |
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