The immigration debate roiling Congress has spilled over onto the presidential campaign trail, exposing rifts among Republican candidates and triggering a round of intraparty crossfire that analysts say is splintering the GOP.

The divisions were on stark display at the Republican debate Tuesday night. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, an author of the Senate immigration compromise backed by the Bush administration, called immigrants "God's children" and defended what he said was a practical plan to secure borders while laying a path to citizenship for the country's 12 million illegal immigrants.

But the measure drew attacks from other Republican hopefuls, who described the plan as a threat, by turns, to national security, the rule of law, and American culture.

The internecine sparring has vexed conservative leaders, who worry that it could fragment a party saddled with an unpopular president and struggling for traction against resurgent Democrats.

"Just as the Democrats are having an internal war on the issue of Iraq, the immigration issue is doing the same to the Republican Party: It's tearing the party in two," says Brian Darling, director of Senate relations for the conservative Heritage Foundation, which has criticized the legislation.

A CBS News/New York Times poll last month found Republicans almost evenly split over President Bush's immigration plan, with 41 percent in favor and 47 percent against. Bipartisan versions of the measure before the Senate would establish a guest-worker program for short stays, an admission point-system that favors high-skilled immigrants, and "Z visas" that let illegal immigrants apply for legal status after paying fines, passing background checks, and learning English.

A FRAGMENTED BASE

In part, some analysts say, the strains over the legislation reflect tensions between two pillars of the Republican base – working-class white voters who may see illegal immigrants as competition for jobs and business leaders who have grown dependent on large pools of low-wage workers.

"What's at stake is nothing less than the future of the party," says Tamar Jacoby, a backer of the Senate measure and senior fellow at The Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank. "There are far too many Republicans worried about the 10 to 20 percent of voters who are adamantly anti-immigrant – the Lou Dobbs voter," she says, referring to the host of the CNN series "Broken Borders."

McCain, who represents a border state with a population that is 29 percent Hispanic, found himself in a lonely minority at Tuesday's debate. Of the 10 men on stage, only Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas explicitly endorsed parts of his plan.

"The problem with this immigration plan is it has no real unifying purpose," former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said. "It's a typical Washington mess."

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