Immigration divides GOP

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney called the bill a form of amnesty "unfair to the millions and millions of people around the world that would love to come here."

And Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado, who earlier announced a "Save America Campaign" to drive the measure's supporters from office, said the legislation would prove "disastrous" for a country unable to absorb more immigrants. "How long will it take for us to catch up with the millions of people who have come here, both legally and illegally, and assimilate them?" he asked.

"It'll take this long: until we no longer have to press 1 for English and 2 for any other language," he said, to applause from the audience of undecided Republican and independent voters at Saint Anselm College, in Manchester, N.H.

McCain's recent exchanges with Republican colleagues have been particularly caustic. When Sen. John Cornyn of Texas accused him last month of shirking negotiations over the bill in favor of the campaign trail, McCain reportedly said, "I know more about this issue than anyone here in the room."

A few days later, McCain assailed Romney, one of his chief critics, suggesting the former governor "get out his small-varmint gun and drive those Guatemalans off his yard," a reference to reports that the former governor had hired – unwittingly, Romney later said – undocumented workers to landscape his Boston home.

McCain kept up the offensive Monday in a speech in south Florida, praising the immigrant-rich region as a "living testament to the benefits of immigration" and accusing critics of inaction. "Pandering for votes on this issue, while offering no solution to the problem, amounts to doing nothing. And doing nothing is silent amnesty."

Romney opposes citizenship for illegal immigrants already in the US and favors a plan stressing border security and worker ID cards that employers would be required to check against a federal database to verify immigration status.

THE POLITICAL GAMBLE

Campaign handicappers say political leaders' opposition to the immigration measure is a gamble over the long term, not least because of the growing political muscle of the Hispanic population.

"My sense is that the Romney strategy is probably a better strategy for the caucus and the nomination process, but the McCain strategy is one that would play better in the general election," says Steffen Schmidt, a political scientist at Iowa State University.

Conservative ire over the Senate immigration measure is a "real gift to aspiring Republicans," says Prof. Roger Robins of Marymount College, in California.

With the immigration bill, "they get to bash Bush and play to the Republican base," he said. "But the price is overall party unity."

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