Red-state senators feel the heat of a fiery immigration debate

Two GOP lawmakers, South Carolina's Graham and Arizona's Kyl, take a calculated risk in backing the Senate bill.

from the June 4, 2007 edition

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If South Carolina represents the "new" border for illegal immigrants, Arizona is the "old" border, a Latino-infused state with a heavy flow of illegal immigrants and a widespread perception among voters that little is being done, especially at the federal level, to halt them.

Voters in the state last November overwhelmingly approved several ballot initiatives targeting illegal immigrants. Over the past four years polls have shown that far more Arizonans than not want the government to crack down on illegal immigrants. "No matter how I've asked the question – I could make up a program that said that any illegal immigrant that comes across ... should be put in chains, have no rights, be locked in solitary confinement – 65 percent of the people in Arizona would agree with that because they are really frustrated," says Bruce Merrill, a political scientist and pollster at Arizona State University in Tempe. "People in Arizona don't think anybody's done anything" about the immigration problem. Many Arizonans now see Kyl as having flipped on illegal immigration, he says.

The only real public support Kyl has received so far has come from Arizona's Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano, who wrote an op-ed calling the legislation a good start. Democratic lawmakers, for their part, are also feeling the heat. Illegal immigration "is a complex problem – it cuts at our core values of what it means to be American, part of which is being fair and at the same time not getting a free ride," says US Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D) of Arizona, who has held constituent meetings throughout her 9,000-square-mile district that includes the busy border crossing at Douglas.

At the moment, though, it's Republicans, by and large, who are livid over the bill. "I feel violated," says state Rep. Russell Pearce, a long-time Kyl supporter. "This bill is a sellout of America."Such rhetoric may explain why Kyl's schedule last week was so low-key. Except for an op-ed piece that appeared in the Arizona Republic, stating that he'd rather be involved in fixing major flaws in the legislation than be sitting on the sidelines, Kyl held meetings with party officials that were "private in nature," according to a staff member. State party officials "have lots of questions, but they've largely been more receptive to the bill now than many were when the bill was first announced," says Ryan Patmintra, Kyl's press secretary.Kyl, who just won reelection and won't run again until 2012, may have less to lose than Graham does. Semiretired machinist Bob Glidden, for one, says he'll devote all his free time to ousting Graham. Like many conservatives, Mr. Glidden sees the bill and the run-up to the 2008 election as deciding moments in the course of American history. "He's going to be one of the ones who put our country at risk and ruined this state," he says. The high emotions surrounding the immigration bill could well have political repercussions for senators who, trying to do what they think is right, go against the wishes of their constituents, say political analysts. "Lindsey Graham is a survivor," says Towery, the Atlanta pollster. "But for every one of these senators ... this is a very dangerous piece of legislation."

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