Senate gearing up for battle on immigration

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Saturday, Oct. 15, 2005 | 9:38 a.m.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and pillars of the Las Vegas economy's support for "comprehensive immigration reform" on Thursday heralded the battle expected when the Senate takes up the issue in the coming week.

Reid said the proposed federal legislation he thinks would achieve the group's goals is the Kennedy-McCain Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act. The bill includes a temporary worker program, a way for illegal immigrants to earn legal status and measures for securing U.S. borders.

Committee hearings set to being Tuesday will kick off congressional debate on the issue in what is seen as a do-or-die period for immigration legislation that will last until spring.

But opinion was divided on how much echo the Senate minority leader's move will have in Washington, given the comments Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., made the same day.

After touring 300 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border Thursday, Frist told a Washington reporter that he thought tighter borders would be needed before reforming immigration laws.

Reid, at a Las Vegas press conference, said both were possible, pointing to the slogan "smart reform and effective enforcement" several times.

Standing with him at the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce offices were representatives of the chamber, the Culinary Union, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Las Vegas, the Nevada Restaurant Association and MGM Mirage. The union is the state's largest, and MGM Mirage is the state's largest private employer.

"This must be an important issue, to get us all together at the Chamber of Commerce," Culinary Secretary-Treasurer D. Taylor joked.

Reid said it was important to make the announcement in Nevada, where the Hispanic immigrant population has grown immensely in the last two decades and where the need for workers grows as rapidly.

In Clark County, census estimates in 2003 put the Hispanic population at 24.5 percent of the total population.

David Thronson, one of the founders of an immigration law clinic at UNLV's Boyd School of Law, said he saw the press conference as "(Reid's) way of calling out the Bush administration and saying, 'where are they going to be on this issue?' "

Reid said that "five years ago, (President) Bush promised (reform)" -- and it still hasn't happened.

Jeanne Butterfield, executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association in Washington, said Reid's announcement was important because of the upcoming hearings and the lack of commitment to immigration reform to date by the Bush administration.

"The wild card here is the administration," Butterfield said. "The White House hasn't signaled which way it wants to go."

But John Keeley, director of communications for the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington-based group that favors tighter restrictions on immigration, said Reid's announcement amounted to "a meaningless dog and pony show."

Butterfield's and Keeley's groups will be testifying next week.

Keeley said Reid's "rhetoric was made moot by what Sen. Frist said -- nothing is going to happen until we have enforcement first."

Frist, he said, "threw down the gauntlet" in advance of next week's Senate Judiciary Committee hearings.

A competing bill in the mix was introduced by Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.

Cornyn spokesman Don Stewart said it was a good sign that Reid and Frist were making high-profile comments about immigration.

"It's especially significant given that people were writing the obituary for immigration reform earlier this year," he said.

Several observers said the coming months will be decisive for Congress to decide on any immigration law.

"There's a small window of opportunity that starts now until next spring," Butterfield said.

"If something doesn't happen then, it probably won't happen this cycle."

Timothy Pratt can be reached at 259-8828 or timothy@lasvegassun.com.

Sun Washington Bureau Chief Benjamin Grove contributed to this story.