GOP grapples with border security in immigration bill

Ianus · 07:31 PM

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/p...urity/2502553/

Quote:

WASHINGTON — Republicans in the House of Representatives say any immigration bill they pass must ensure that the nation's Southwest border with Mexico is secured before any process can begin for undocumented immigrants to apply for citizenship.

But as House Republicans prepare to meet Wednesday to plot the way forward on immigration legislation, there is no consensus among them on who should be able to apply for citizenship, exactly how to secure that border or what "secure" even means.

The Senate passed a bill last month that allows the nation's 11 million unauthorized immigrants to get temporary legal status as the federal government rolls out a $46 billion "border surge" strategy that floods the region with Border Patrol agents, drones, helicopters and surveillance technology. Ten years later, if the border security plan is fully implemented, those immigrants could then begin applying for green cards, and U.S. citizenship three years later.

The House caucus enters Wednesday's meeting with only one thing in common: They don't like the Senate plan. House Speaker John Boehner has said he will not let his chamber vote on the Senate bill, and will instead develop a plan that the majority of Republicans can agree on.

But they don't have agreement yet.

Some security-conscious Republicans, like Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, say they view the 20,000 new Border Patrol agents called for in the Senate bill as excessive. He also says the bill, which includes an itemized list of hundreds of pieces of surveillance equipment that will go to each of the nine border sectors, dictates too much to the Department of Homeland Security how to do its job.

"They know what they need," said Labrador, who recently dropped out of a bipartisan House group trying to craft a comprehensive immigration bill. "In many cases, we don't need to hire additional people."

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, has developed another way. He has filed a bill, which drew praise from Boehner and passed the Homeland Security Committee last month, that requires Homeland Security to first develop a measurement of border security, then come back and develop a security plan.

Other Republicans say the best way to secure the border is to take the enforcement and decision-making out of the hands of anybody in Washington.

Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, one of the most outspoken critics of the Senate plan, says the governors and state legislatures in all four border states should be the ones to certify that their borders are secured.

Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., doesn't trust the Obama administration to fully carry out immigration enforcement, so he passed a bill through the House Judiciary Committee that would empower states to carry out immigration enforcement on their own. The bill would allow state and local governments to pass laws that mirror federal immigration laws, then provide grants to help local law enforcement carry out those laws.

"The Senate is fine with law enforcement enforcing every other category of crime, from child pornography to murder to narcotics trafficking to bank robbery," Gowdy said on Fox News Sunday. "But heaven forbid they get involved in immigration."

If and when the border is deemed secure, the next step — legalizing the nation's undocumented immigrants — is equally divisive.

Many House and Senate Republicans share a common concern voiced most succinctly by Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who said during debate last month that the bill was "immediate amnesty before border security."

Under the Senate bill, undocumented immigrants can get a temporary legal status — allowing them to live and work in the U.S. — within six months of the bill becoming law. Many House Republicans say that's unacceptable.

Labrador said it's so important to secure the border first, and that it's not absolutely necessary for Congress to pass any legalization plan this year. That can wait a couple of years, he said, while the border is being secured.

But some say that's the wrong approach. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., part of the group trying to craft a sweeping bill, said it's important to limit any residency opportunities to the undocumented population in the country now.

"If you were to say, 'We're going to now do border security and then five years after that, we're going to have people come forward, you're going to have 10 million more people come over the border," Diaz-Balart said. "We're going to become the biggest magnet for illegal immigration. People are going to come here from all over the world."

Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has said he supports something in the middle — a pathway to legalization, but not a "special pathway to citizenship" for the undocumented immigrants.

And still others, like King, feel no obligation to provide any pathway to citizenship or legal status.

"We don't have a moral obligation to solve that problem," King said. "The people that are here illegally came here to live in the shadows. To reward them with the objective of the crime they've committed … just means we're going to have more."

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GOP grapples with border security in immigration bill