Immigration divides GOP

Republican presidential hopefuls show little party unity over the immigration bill in the Senate.

from the June 8, 2007 edition

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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."

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.

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