Immigration roils Congressional Democrats: Hispanic lawmakers v. Dems in swing districts

[DeepModem Mom]

The Hill: Immigration roils Dems
By Jonathan E. Kaplan
December 05, 2007

House Democratic leaders are being whipsawed on immigration policy by two groups within their caucus — Hispanic lawmakers who want an end to Democratic support of enforcement-only immigration bills and vulnerable Democrats from swing districts who say a “get tough” approach is necessary to keep their seats in 2008.

Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) Chairman Joe Baca (D-Calif.) plans to address the Democratic Caucus at next week’s meeting to reassure colleagues that they can be tough while creating a path to citizenship for undocumented and illegal immigrants. He also planned to meet with conservative Blue Dog Democrats on Wednesday to discuss immigration policy with them.

The special election that brought Rep. Nikki Tsongas (D-Mass.) to Congress was tighter than expected because immigration was a pointed issue. And in Ohio’s 5th congressional district, both the GOP and Democratic candidate have taken similar enforcement-only approaches.

Worried about appearing soft on the issue in an election year, yet knowing they cannot afford to alienate Hispanic voters, Democratic leaders have let conservative members join legislative forces with Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) and allowed passage of a non-binding motion prohibiting the government from suing groups that require employees to speak English at work. As a result, Baca and a group of Hispanic Democrats threatened revolt on two procedural votes last month to protest leadership handling of immigration. Now Baca is trying conciliation, reaching out to House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.) and centrist Democrats.

But détente over immigration cannot avoid emotional and political pitfalls. Emanuel invited Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg to the caucus meeting to discuss his polling on immigration. Some Democratic strategists ridiculed this idea because of Hispanic lawmakers’ skepticism about Greenberg’s record on immigration. In The New Republic last month, Greenberg equated the immigration issue with welfare reform, saying Democrats had to get tough on enforcement before creating a path to citizenship. Many political strategists disagree....

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/immigration-roils-dems-2007-12-06.html