WASHINGTON (AP) August 3, 2007 — Republican presidential
candidate John McCain is supporting a scaled-down proposal that would impose
strict rules to end illegal immigration and includes no path to U.S.
citizenship.
The move away from a comprehensive measure, such as is
favored by President George W. Bush, is an about-turn for the U.S. senator from
Arizona, a state on the Mexican border.
Until his announcement Thursday, McCain had been a leading
Republican champion of a bill that included a guest worker program and would
have legalized many of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants now living in
the United States. It failed early this year, and McCain's formerly strong
campaign has faltered since then as well. He also has taken political hits from
his steadfast support for Bush's handling of the increasingly unpopular Iraq
war.
"We can still show the American people that we are serious
about securing our nation's border," McCain said Thursday in a statement. The
new bill would "provide an essential step toward achieving comprehensive reform
in the future," he said.
McCain's immigration position has been a campaign liability
among Republican voters and hurt his efforts to raise money. Other Republican
presidential candidates, fellow Arizona Republicans and immigration opponents
throughout the country have loudly decried his position.
Observers said McCain's switch was political. "He
recognizes his position on the issue is killing him," said Steven Camarota,
research director at the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors vigorous
immigration enforcement.
McCain's co-sponsors include Republican Sens. Lindsey
Graham and Jon Kyl, Arizona's other U.S. senator. All three were leading
advocates for the unsuccessful comprehensive immigration measure and were
bombarded with criticism for their support.
Immigrants' rights advocates jumped to condemn their
decision. "It is fairly stunning they have gone from leaders on comprehensive
reform legislation to lemmings running over the cliff" with the Republican
opponents of the bill, said Angela Kelley, deputy director of the National
Immigration Forum.
Among other things, the bill would make being in the
country illegally a criminal misdemeanor and would toughen penalties for
re-entering after deportation. It would mandate an electronic system for
employers to check workers' citizenship status and require illegal immigrants
who commit a crime to be held in jail until their deportation.
