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The McCain-Obama Immigration Wars

July 14, 2008 7:34 AM

Today at the National Council of La Raza convention, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., will try to make his case.

"I spoke recently at both the NALEO and LULAC conferences, as did Senator Obama," McCain will say, according to prepared remarks provided by his campaign. "I did not use those occasions to criticize Senator Obama.  I would prefer not to do so today. 

"But he suggested in his speeches there and here, that I turned my back on comprehensive reform out of political necessity.  I feel I must, as they say, correct the record.  At a moment of great difficulty in my campaign, when my critics said it would be political suicide for me to do so, I helped author with Senator Kennedy comprehensive immigration reform, and fought for its passage.  I cast a lot of hard votes, as did the other Republicans and Democrats who joined our bipartisan effort.  So did Senator Kennedy.   I took my lumps for it without complaint.  My campaign was written off as a lost cause.  I did so not just because I believed it was the right thing to do for Hispanic Americans.  It was the right thing to do for all Americans. 

"Senator Obama declined to cast some of those tough votes.  He voted for and even sponsored amendments that were intended to kill the legislation, amendments that Senator Kennedy and I voted against.   I never ask for any special privileges from anyone just for having done the right thing.  Doing my duty to my country is its own reward.  But I do ask for your trust that when I say, I remain committed to fair, practical and comprehensive immigration reform, I mean it.  I think I have earned that trust."

**

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, yesterday before La Raza did indeed attack McCain on immigration, saying, "McCain used to buck his party on immigration by fighting for comprehensive reform – and I admired him for it. But when he was running for his party’s nomination, he abandoned his courageous stance, and said that he wouldn’t even support his own legislation if it came up for a vote. Well, I don’t know about you, but I think it’s time for a President who won’t walk away from something as important as comprehensive reform when it becomes politically unpopular."

Obama said "we need a practical solution for the problem of 12 million people who are here without documentation – many of whom have lived and worked here for years. That’s why we need to offer those who are willing to make amends a pathway to citizenship."

He said that voters are "counting on us to rise above the fear and demagoguery, the pettiness and partisanship, and finally enact comprehensive immigration reform."

**

As we've covered in this space before, both candidates' charges against the other are essentially accurate.

When McCain was asked during a January 2008 GOP debate if he would vote for his original immigration reform proposal if it came to the Senate floor, McCain said, "No, I would not, because we know what the situation is today. The people want the border secured first."

Watch HERE.

McCain has also been charged with double-talk on this issue by opponents of immigration reform.

But the charges McCain will level today are true as well, as we've noted before.

There was a cohesive bipartisan group led by Sens. McCain and Ted Kennedy, D-Mass, that worked to defeat amendments that would hurt the overall bill's chance of final passage -- amendments that were too liberal for the Republicans and too conservative for the Democrats.

And on at least five occasions, Obama voted for amendments against the wishes of the bipartisan group, including Kennedy.

These included an amendment Obama offered that would have sunsetted the merit-based evaluation system for immigrants after five years; two amendments from Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-ND, to sunset both the temporary guest worker visa program and the Y-1 non-immigrant temporary worker visa program after five years; and two amendments from Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-NM, that would have removed the requirement that 'Y' non-immigrant visa holders leave the United States before they are able to renew their visa, and would have lowered the annual visa quota for guest workers from 400,000 to 200,000 per year.

Obama voted for all five; Kennedy voted against all five.

Now when McCain asserts that these amendments "were intended to kill the legislation," that gets into the intent of Sens. Obama, Bingaman, and Dorgan. And all three would assert that they were trying to improve the legislation, not kill it.*

But from the perspective of the fragile bipartisan coalition led by Sens. McCain and Kennedy, the intent of the amendment sponsors was irrelevant -- the fact is they were taking actions that threatened a very delicate legislative dance. So McCain's assertion that the amendments were intended to kill the bill is his view, and not supported by any demonstrable evidence of conspiracy.*

But that said, McCain worked much harder and risked far more to pass that immigration bill than Obama did.

Moreover, the Obama camp engages in a misleading response when pushing back on this matter.

Obama spox Hari Sevugan says "Obama has been  a leader on the issue, working hard and in a bipartisan manner for comprehensive reform.  And you don’t have to take our word for it…  take the word of John McCain himself who praised Obama’s work on comprehensive reform or that of top McCain surrogate Senator Mel Martinez who wrote Senator Obama to thank him for his support of the comprehensive immigration reform bill and praised his leadership."

It is true that McCain praised Obama as one of a small bipartisan group of Senators who “stood together to make this legislation possible.” 

But that was in 2006.

With a different bill and a different legislative effort entirely.

In June 2007 letter to Obama, Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., did thank Obama for his support of the immigration reform bill in this letter. It looks to me like a cursory form letter, but Martinez did indeed send it.

The facts remain: McCain tried to pass the 2007 bill, then backed off it after its colossal failure, emphasizing border security first though he always maintained the need for there to be a path to citizenship.

Obama, for his part, took actions that were contrary to the desires of the bipartisan coalition that may have helped sink the bill.

On the 2007 bill, McCain took great political risks then tried to minimize the damage; Obama took little-to-no risks.

- jpt

* These two paragraphs were added at 11:55 am ET after the Obama campaign rightly pointed out that McCain's assertion that the amendments were drafted to kill the bill was his opinion and not a clear fact.

July 14, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (13)

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U.S. presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama’s interview at the convention of UNITY Journalists of Color in Chicago, Ill., on Sunday focused briefly on legal immigration in the United States.

Obama said increasing the number of legal immigrants accepted into the United States will not adequately resolve problems within the legal immigration system.

He said that the government also has been increasing the cost of legal immigration, which enables wealthy individuals (Obama’s example was Mick Jagger) to easily come to this country while preventing intelligent, ambitious professionals who are poor from coming and contributing to this country.

Bringing down visa costs may help but there is also a great need for awareness. The somewhat xenophobic attitude that has crept into American

Posted by: Political Parley | Jul 27, 2008 4:50:43 PM

most immigrants need ssn for jobs. they pay taxes off those numbers. that tax goes to public programs like you and i pay as well. unless you are a Native American, you are an immigrant. what was the original thoughts on italians and irish? any guesses? i'm glad so many of you are going to be working menial jobs for minimum wage. i look forward to seeing the job market boom as college graduates start their careers in hard physical labor. who will be raising the rich parents' kids? are you going to join the military once the illegal immigrants get kicked out of the military? what happened to free market? what happened to capitalism? is it only for the few? i thought our standard was make as much money as possible. it's worked for halliburton, enron, etc...but if you don't speak english or have too much melanon, forget about it. why don't we work on securing the canadian border? no walls up there? why, you ask. because that's where the actual terrorists came from. enjoy wearing your pillow cases.

Posted by: fattony | Jul 18, 2008 12:57:42 PM

Obama wants U.S. taxpayers to pay for healthcare for 15 million illegal immigrants. They would have full healthcare rights - including going to the front of the line when it came to life-saving operations such as organ transplants. Illegals could be put ahead of your family members, immigrants who came here legally, and the taxpayers who were paying for the illegals' health insurance coverage. Obama is just too liberal!

Posted by: HoosierSue | Jul 14, 2008 5:34:11 PM

I suggest the following laws
1.) require all employers to use the e-verify system on new employees - it checks the working status of the employee
2.) require all law enforcement agencies to use the ICE database on all arrests - checks the status of the person (whether or not they should be in the U.S.)
3.) Continue employer raids
4.) Arrest/prosecute anyone crossing the border with any amount of drugs (currently less than 500 lbs are usually ignored).
5.) Streamline legal immigration - current process can be slow and inaccurate
6.) change the legal immigration preference to offer legal status to those who could benefit the U.S.; e.g. nurses, doctors, scientists, computer programs, inventors
7.) Eliminate income tax and replace with sales tax (forces illegals to pay taxes, lowering the economic advantage of hiring illegals)

Posted by: X marks the spot | Jul 14, 2008 2:40:13 PM

NONE of the members of the media who have asked questions in past debates have preceded their remarks on illegal aliens with the phrase, THE MAJORITY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HAVE INDICATED THAT THEY ARE OPPOSED TO A PATHWAY TO CITIZENSHIP for illegal alines. Look at their reaction to the McCain/Kennedy Bill last June. The question that should follow is: WHY ARE BOTH OF YOU STILL TRYING TO PROPOSE SIMILAR LEGISLATION FOR DEALING WITH THE PROBLEM OF illegal aliens? The answer to that question would be very interesting.

Posted by: Popeye | Jul 14, 2008 1:47:45 PM

There are four ways to end the illegal immigration problem.
l. Close the borders to all illegals.
2. Send all illegals back home.
3. Make it a criminal act for anyone or group to hire or support illegal immigrants.
4. Enforce all laws now.
These people have no respect for our laws, are self centered, greedy and have over-populated their own family and country resources. They are no better than thieves.

Posted by: Mary | Jul 14, 2008 1:06:34 PM

McCain is worse than Obama on immigration. Both McCain and Obama favor amnesty - but unlike Obama, McCain is a zealot supporter of the guest worker concept. I'm voting third party.

Posted by: Richard A. | Jul 14, 2008 12:16:36 PM

The problem with trying to communicate on this issue is that the MSM (ABC included) doesn't have, or is ignoring, the will of America's Citizens on the issue.

Indeed, if the press were factually in control of what, we the people are saying, both candidates positions would be viewed as "pandering".

Skewed polling questions, or worse, push polling on the issue, has resulted in the media seeking refuge in statistics that have little to do with the will of the people on this issue. It's like the blind leading the stupid!

The fact that the media believes that ther is any sort of support for either amnesty or comprehensive immigration reform at the national level, when demonstrably none exists at the state or local level, is evidence of the worst sort of media bias.

Time after time, state after state, city after city, we've seen state and local governments propose and pass legislation and regulations opposing illegal aliens. Empoloyer sanctions, denial of licenses and benefits, constraints on landlords, expanding local police powers to co-operate with DHS/ICE, how can anyone suggest that there is a "national mandate" for comprehensive immigration reforms when rank-and-file Citizens are digging in their heels at the state and local levels?

The marvelous thing about our founding father's and their support for the 2nd. amendment is that they were prescient that there might come a day when government failed to serve the will of the people, and a change would be incumbent.

Posted by: Ed Weirdness | Jul 14, 2008 10:19:03 AM

i need help.by deciding who to choose who is the best Canidate to win.

Posted by: LAB | Jul 14, 2008 10:13:07 AM

I am convinced more than ever that I cannot vote for 2 of the worst American Traitors in history. I will vote for Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution party. I must. because to vote for Mc Cain or Obama would be to slit my own throat!

Just think!! History DOES repeat it's self!
Africans were sold into slavery hundreds of years ago by their own African countrymen.

NOW Barack Obama is selling his people into slavery once again by supporting illegal aliens

Posted by: Rosanna Pulido | Jul 14, 2008 9:51:36 AM

Obama: He just doesn't understand complex issues!

Posted by: Soetoro No! | Jul 14, 2008 9:34:41 AM

So, in short, McCain is saying he authored a bill before Congress before he knew all the facts.
Is that like, "shoot then ask questions later?"

Posted by: DAVID NH | Jul 14, 2008 8:32:20 AM

O

One thing that irates americans is that these politicians use things as campaign ploys to get votes and elected.
They do not care what the people want, What is best for the country. All they care about is getting votes.

Illegal immigrants are illegal. The american people do not want them. The American people do not want them getting a free ride or citizenship for entering our country illegally. It is wrong, hurts this country and a grave insult to all who have came to this country legally.

Just because you are using it to get votes, does not make it right, or good for this country.

If they can not come legally, they should not be allowed here, or allowed to come back.

Do out politicians care about the people, the country or just getting votes?

The Citizens of the United States need to start telling the politicians what we want. So write, email or call and tell your congressman, senators That we do not want illegal immigrants, we do not want illega immigrants getting a free rid and citizenship for doing something illegal.

Plus, we do want the national language to be English.

Until then the Politicans will abuse the country and you.

Posted by: seah | Jul 14, 2008 8:09:58 AM

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