Immigration Reform on the Wrong Path

By Stephen Dinan
The Washington Times | August 25, 2006

One hundred days into his all-out push to win an immigration bill President Bush has convinced House Republicans he is serious about enforcing the border, but he has failed to win their support for his plan to create a guest-worker program or a path to citizenship for illegal aliens.

"I've had a lot of conversations with the president and I just try to make him understand that comprehensive is fine, but the first thing we have to do is protect the borders," House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, Illinois Republican, told The Washington Times during a campaign stop for a fellow Republican in Arizona last week. "Until you protect the borders, any reform without protecting the borders is premature."

He said that during a recent outing in his district, when he invited constituents to come see him in a park in the town of Geneseo, 150 people showed up and that with the exception of one woman, "every one of those people said secure the border first. It was amazing."

In fact, House Republicans are "stauncher than ever" that a border security bill must come first, said Rep. Peter T. King, New York Republican and chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, in a telephone interview.

"I think he's convinced us he's serious [about enforcement], but to me these are only first steps. Before we even consider any type of quote-unquote comprehensive legislation, we have to show we can control the border -- not that we want to, but that we can," Mr. King said. "Speaking for myself and, I believe, a great majority of House Republicans, we have to see results before we consider going any further. And I can't see that happening in less than a year or 18 months."