Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Reid makes push for immigration reform

WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid signaled today a renewed push in making comprehensive immigration reform a priority, suggesting the Democrats’ expanded majority will be brought to bear to advance an issue that Congress has been unable to resolve for years.

Immigration advocates have fanned out this week across the capital and in communities, including Las Vegas, to focus the issue President Barack Obama has made a priority.

Reid said immigration was next up on the Senate docket, following health care and energy legislation.

“It’s going to happen this session – but I want it this year, if at all possible,” Reid said during a news briefing with Hispanic groups supporting U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.

Immigration presents challenges and opportunities for both sides in Washington. Republicans have been losing Hispanic support as their overall party numbers have declined. They must choose whether to continue holding a hard line on immigration reform, a strategy that plays well with the conservative base but alienates the growing Hispanic population, especially in the West.

As my colleague Timothy Pratt wrote over the weekend, the immigration debate in Congress will see both of Nevada’s senators playing critical roles – Reid, as the majority leader, and Republican Sen. John Ensign as the fourth-ranking leader in his party who helps shape debate as its Policy Committee Chairman in the Senate.

Ensign is very aware of the stakes for his party.

“If Hispanics continue to go over to the other party in the numbers they are going, we will be a minority party for the foreseeable future – period,” Ensign told the Sun earlier this week.

“We have to let them know that we care – we want them in our party.”

Yet Ensign continues to oppose legalization for the 11 million illegal immigrants already in this country – a deal-breaking stance for many immigration supporters.

“The bottom line for me is, take the amnesty part out,” Ensign told the Sun. “It is the most controversial part of the legislation, so take it out.”

Ensign instead supports a strategy that would provide multi-year work visas that could ultimately put immigrants on a path to citizenship. “We have to articulate it the right way,” he said. “It’s not about kicking people out of the country.”

Reid laid out the elements of a comprehensive package of reforms -- many that have been debated in Washington for years: Secure the borders, an expanded guest worker program (that includes the tourism industry), a pathway for citizenship for the 11 million undocumented living in this country, employer sanctions for hiring illegal immigrants.

“I am not going to deal with immigration on a piecemeal basis,” Reid said.

The majority leader was undeterred by the suggestion that the new ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, may pose a daunting foe.

Reid relied on the math, since Democrats have a robust majority in the Senate unseen in a generation, and one that tips the balance powerfully in the committees.

“Check the numbers of Democrats and Republicans on that committee,” Reid said.

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