Immigration issue takes flight

Kathy Kiely
USA TODAY

MONROEVILLE, Pa. — In the debate now raging over the USA's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants, this Pittsburgh suburb of aging strip malls and tidy brick homes seems anything but ground zero.

It has been decades since waves of foreigners came to western Pennsylvania to man the region's mills and factories. In fact, local officials are worried about the lack of newcomers from other countries.

"One of the reasons Pittsburgh isn't growing is that we don't do a good enough job welcoming legal immigrants," says Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., whose father came from Italy as a child.

The Pew Hispanic Center estimates Pennsylvania's illegal immigrant population at no more than 175,000, or 1.4% of the population. The impact is felt less on the state's western side, where jobs are harder to find.

Buzz word: 'Border security'

That hasn't stopped illegal immigration from becoming a campaign issue, not only here but in places such as Omaha, Nashville and Salt Lake City. Santorum, running behind Democrat Bob Casey in his race for re-election to a third term, made border security the theme of his first campaign commercials, which began airing last month. At a local fire hall recently, he hosted a community forum under a banner touting "Border Security First."

Regardless of the size of the local illegal immigrant population or a region's proximity to the U.S.-Mexican border, in this election year "every state is a border state," says Lance Frizzell, spokesman for Republican Jim Bryson, who is running for governor of Tennessee.

People on both sides of the immigration debate agree it could help decide this fall's elections. "After the Iraq war, it is the issue that is paramount on everybody's mind," says House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., agrees: "It's obviously the No. 2 issue in the country."

McCain, President Bush and Democrats such as Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., believe it is important to bring illegal immigrants out of the shadows. The bill McCain helped write includes a plan to offer millions of illegal immigrants a chance at citizenship. The Senate passed it in May.

Boehner, Santorum and other conservatives back the approach taken in a competing bill passed by the House in December. It would not offer citizenship to people in the country illegally and would crack down on employers who hire them. There will be no need to deport illegal immigrants, supporters argue; they'll leave because they won't get jobs.

"We can solve this problem without even dealing with the issue of what you do with all the people who are here," Santorum said.

Casey supports the Senate bill, spokesman Doug Anderson says.

The battle for control of Congress is complicating efforts to reach a legislative compromise. "The closer we get to the election, the harder it is," says Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla. Some accuse politicians of pandering to elements that Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, says are "absolutely, clearly racist."

'Playing to primal fear'

Cannon successfully fended off a challenge in Utah's June 27 primary because of his support for an immigration bill similar to the Senate's. He says much of the rhetoric on illegal immigration is "playing to primal fear" and keeping lawmakers from compromise.

Many of his colleagues "don't want to be associated with a solution," Cannon says. "There are races where losing 4%, 5% or 7% of the Republican vote to a guy who claims to be tougher on immigration could make a difference."

Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Calif., won a June 6 special election in suburban San Diego by campaigning against illegal immigration: "I bet the farm on it."

Bilbray makes no apologies. "The American people are sick and tired of political correctness standing in the way of not only common sense but common decency," he says.

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