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Politics

Illegal immigration foes won't consider amnesty for McCain

In Texas, they're fighting uphill to derail him.

By Jose Cardenas, Times Staff Writer
Published March 3, 2008

Sen. John McCain has shifted his focus from immigration reform to securing the borders.

Sen. John McCain is the all-but-official Republican presidential nominee, but don't tell that to illegal immigration opponents in Texas.

They're fanning out across the state before Tuesday's primary to ask people to vote for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

"You got two people left, so we are putting our faith behind Huckabee," said Shannon McGauley, president of the 500-person-strong Texas Minutemen. "He may have his faults, too, but at least he did not try to shove amnesty down our throats."

And it's not just the border-watching Minutemen who plan to campaign against the GOP front-runner. McGauley says 19 other anti-immigration groups plan to try to rally against McCain.

"Huckabee wins two more states, and I think he's back in it," McGauley said recently.

Whether this tactic will work - it didn't in Florida - the effort shows how deeply some in McCain's own party resent his moderate stand on immigration.

"The majority of our supporters would not vote for John McCain at gunpoint," said William Gheen, president of the 25,000-member Americans for Legal Immigration in North Carolina.

* * *

As McCain campaigned in Florida before the Jan. 29 presidential primary, illegal immigration opponents followed him in a white van sporting a sign saying, "McCain = Amnesty."

At rallies from Tampa to Boca Raton, activists carried signs and passed out fliers. McCain, they warned, would give citizenship to undocumented immigrants.

After McCain all but secured the Republican nomination Feb. 5, one wrote to GOP leaders in Washington and Tallahassee.

"I will NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, vote for Juan McCain," David Caulkett of Pompano Beach wrote.

Two years ago, McCain co-authored a bill with Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., that would have created a path to citizenship for many of the estimated 12-million undocumented immigrants in the United States.

The bill failed last year, but the political damage was done.

"His amnesty views will actually echo through the rest of the political system, giving Democrats advantages in a lot of races that have nothing to do with him," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the conservative Center for Immigration Studies.

McCain and others dispute that the senator's efforts would have given undocumented immigrants amnesty. They note that under his bill, undocumented immigrants would have faced hefty fines and years of waiting before becoming citizens.

These days, McCain has backed off immigration reform. He says his priority is securing the border. Still, he was booed recently when he spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C.

"Only as we have achieved widespread consensus that our borders are secure," McCain said, "would we address other aspects of the problem in a way that defends the rule of law and does not encourage another wave of illegal immigration."

* * *

Advocates for undocumented immigrants take comfort in the rise of McCain and the fall of Republican candidates with tougher immigration views.

"It was supposed to be a big issue in South Carolina," said Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum. "McCain wins."

Opponents say several candidates had tough positions on illegal immigration and McCain won because those candidates split the vote.

The issue is having other effects. Advocates for undocumented immigrants say the Hispanic share of the vote in some states has increased during the primaries from years past because Hispanics generally feel attacked by harsh Republican language on the issue.

"Not only did the immigration issue fail to deliver the election to them, it's driving Latinos to the Democratic Party," said Eliseo Medina, executive vice president of the Service Employees International Union.

McCain received 54 percent of the Hispanic Republican vote in Florida. Mitt Romney, with a harsher stand on immigration, got 14 percent.

Historically, McCain has been viewed positively by Hispanics in Arizona and nationally. But some say he must now try to appeal to conservatives.

"He has shifted at least his rhetorical posture," said Cecilia Munoz, vice president of the National Council of La Raza. "He is talking a lot about enforcement first. That is worrisome."

* * *

Some see no point to organizing against McCain. They plan to "warn" voters about Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama as well, citing that all three have held similar views on immigration.

They are trying to persuade CNN host Lou Dobbs, who rails against illegal immigration, to enter the presidential race.

After launching a Web site promoting Dobbs, Gheen said people pledged almost $500,000 if he ran. Gheen planned to ask Dobbs to join the race.

"Enclosed is half of my Republican voters registration card," Caulkett wrote to Florida Republican leaders. "I have registered as a Lou Dobbs Independent."

Jose Cardenas can be reached at jcardenas@sptimes.com or (727) 445-4224.

[Last modified March 3, 2008, 00:47:58]