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WASHINGTON (By Gary Martin, Express News) March 1, 2010 — A coalition of pro-immigration groups is preparing for a renewed congressional battle over reform legislation — and this time they have money to spend.
A reform bill was blocked in 2007 by Senate Republicans opposed to legalizing the status of the nation's roughly 11 million unauthorized immigrants. But those who want immigrants to be able to earn legal status or citizenship say they are better funded and more organized this time.
A reform bill has been filed in the House, and one is expected to be introduced in the Senate soon.
Deepak Bhargava with the Center for Community Change said conservative activists were able to use talk radio to “create a groundswell of anger and hate in the country that brought the bill down.”
“Our effort this time has been targeted to make sure that we out-match them at every level and in every facet of the game,” he said.
His organization has joined with the National Council of La Raza, Service Employees International Union and a host of other labor, religious, ethnic and ideological groups to keep their interests and message before the public.
Conservative activists are working equally hard to halt any legislation containing citizenship proposals, which they roundly denounce as “amnesty.”
The issue has simmered for years. “Tea Party” protests in U.S. cities have focused on taxes, spending and bank bailouts but threw a secondary spotlight on illegal immigration. William Green with Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee, or ALIPAC, said an overwhelming majority in the U.S. oppose comprehensive immigration reform and amnesty.
Allied groups like Numbers USA say they will have the money to organize against any legislation that would legalize the status of any immigrant who sneaked into the country or overstayed a visa.
“We are doing what we've always done,” said Dustin Carnevale of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which wants to reduce legal immigration limits.
Carnevale said FAIR continues to engage activists to educate Americans on the issue.
A coalition of groups favoring earned legalization for undocumented immigrants has planned a “massive mobilization” to bring thousands of people to Washington on March 21.
“Americans across the country want workable, practical solutions that are fair to everyone,” said Gabe Gonzalez, lead organizer for the March For America.
Volunteers are raising funds to hire buses to bring people to the nation's capital for the event, and providing places for marchers to stay, Bhargava said.
Special interest groups are also gearing up to lobby for parts of the legislation.
“As our economy rebounds, the need for workers will rise,” said Randel Johnson with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Business groups are seeking pools of immigrant workers, through temporary or guest worker programs, to provide a continued source of labor.
Unions oppose guest worker programs. They want immigrant workers to get the rights and benefits that U.S. workers receive.
Ethnic and religious groups have argued for increased visas and citizenship for the sake of family unification.
Guest worker programs and visas for work and family reasons are among the bill's technical aspects that an army of lobbyists hired by the various groups will help shape.
That also happened in 2007, when 461 businesses, unions, ideological groups and associations had lobbyists working on immigration, making it one of the top issues before Congress, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan watchdog group that tracks money and influence in the legislative process.
Software giants, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO and agricultural interests rounded out the lobbyists' top 10 clients. The actual amount of money spent to lobby on immigration is “virtually impossible” to track because many firms hire lobbyists for more than one issue, said Sheila Krumholz, the Center's executive director.
Three years ago, labor groups were divided over some provisions in the failed Senate immigration reform bill. Union leaders say they are united now, and bring fundraising and organizing clout to the new pro-immigration cause.
But opponents of immigration reform note that it's an election year in which the national unemployment rate hovers near 10 percent.
“With unemployment at such a high level, no matter how organized or well-funded they are, amnesty is going to be a hard sell to the American people,” Carnevale said.
Election-year politics could force Democrats to postpone action, despite the mounting pressure from pro-immigration groups.
Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi, a co-sponsor of the House bill, conceded that a likely window for a vote might not open until after the November general election.
He noted that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is asking the Senate, which failed in its last attempt to pass a reform law, to move first, which would protect vulnerable House Democrats from voting on such a contentious issue before the election.
In Arizona, immigration already has become a defining issue in the Republican primary challenge to Sen. John McCain by former U.S. Rep. J.D. Hayworth. McCain once favored citizenship provisions and was a sponsor of the bipartisan immigration reform bill in 2007. ALIPAC has endorsed Hayworth.
ALIPAC's Green said there is a powerful political uprising by patriotic Americans who believe that many incumbents, like McCain, “are not listening to the public on important issues like immigration.”
But immigration reform proponents dismiss the issue's importance in individual races. They say pro-immigration candidates won 20 of 22 competitive congressional races in 2008.
With the general election still more than eight months away, their coalition is focusing instead on the legislative process, and cultivating new constituencies, like evangelists, to make telephone calls to Congress and the White House “so that we are not swamped like we were last time by the power of the other side,” Bhargava said.
