John McCain

PHOENIX (Politico) April 19, 2010 ― Sen. John McCain has endorsed a tough Arizona anti-immigration bill that will let police arrest people who aren’t carrying identification, the latest move in McCain’s rightward shift in advance of a tough Republican Senate primary this summer.

“I think it’s a very important step forward,” McCain said Monday. “I can fully understand why the legislature would want to act.”

It’s a dramatic switch for a senator who supported comprehensive immigration reform with Democratic lion Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) just four years ago.

McCain is facing a primary challenge from the right in former Rep. J.D. Hayworth.

Under the Arizona law, which passed the state House last week and is expected to be signed by Gov. Jan Brewer (R), police can arrest anyone on “reasonable suspicion” they are an undocumented immigrant.

If they’re not carrying a valid driver’s license or identity papers, police can arrest them.

Under current law, undocumented immigration is a federal crime, and state law enforcement officials can only ask about it if a person is suspected of another crime.

Backers say the package of tough new rules will give police and other law enforcement the tools they need to combat increasingly violent immigration violations.

Opponents say the law essentially legalizes racial profiling. The bill is set for a vote in the Arizona Senate Monday.

McCain’s comments to reporters came as he and fellow Republican Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl unveiled a 10 step plan to secure Arizona’s border with Mexico. McCain and Kyl want to send 3,000 National Guard troops to help an overstretched border patrol curtail increasingly violent incidents along the border, among other measures.

McCain said the plan did not need to move in tandem with a potential federal immigration reform bill.

“The lesson is clear: First we have to secure the border,” McCain said. "If you want to enact some other reforms, how can that be effective when you have a porous border?"

"So we have to secure the border first," he said.

McCain asked the federal government for more National Guard troops last year, but the request was not granted.

The National Guard has been deployed to protect the border before, Kyl said, but troops were moved out as the war in Iraq escalated and their capabilities were needed elsewhere.