Democrats embrace amnesty for illegals

All eight of the Democratic presidential contenders at Thursday’s debate embraced amnesty for illegal aliens now in the United States, pushing the issue onto the national stage for the presidential contest.

In a debate specifically designed to showcase the candidates for Hispanic voters who were increasingly intrigued by President Bush’s outreach in 2000 and 2001, the Democrats went on record in support of amnesty, a high-profile issue in that community.

“If you had told me three years ago that every Democratic presidential candidate would be aggressively promoting legalization and comprehensive reform, I would have said ‘No way,’” said Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, which has called for such reform.

All of the candidates agreed that a form of amnesty is necessary for some or all of the estimated 9 million illegal immigrants living and working in the United States already.

“I believe we have to change it. It’s a matter of human rights, a matter of civil right, a matter of fairness to Americans. It’s essential to have immigration reform,” said Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, who said he wants instant citizenship for those who have lived in the United States for about five years.

Among the others, Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri introduced a bill a year ago to grant legal status to those who have lived in the United States for five years and worked for two, and Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut introduced his own immigration proposal earlier this week to promote legalization, a guest-worker program and increased due process for immigration applicants.

All of the candidates present spoke about the contributions of immigrants and criticized the Bush administration, which had been working on a broad legalization accord before the September 11 terrorist attacks, for not having returned to the issue.

Mr. Sharry said the pressure is now on Mr. Bush.

“It sets up an interesting political dynamic. Will the Bush administration decide they have to do something before 2004?” Mr. Sharry said.

“Will they decide they’d rather disappoint Latinos and Catholics and some of their business supporters, or divide and anger some in the populist base that think there’s too many immigrants already?”

But Roy Beck, executive director of Numbers USA, which lobbies for immigration limits and a crackdown on illegal immigrants, said the Democrats have staked out a position at odds with what’s best for average workers.

“It’s the abandonment of the American worker. It’s an astounding development for the Democratic Party — the national leaders — to abandon the American worker like this,” Mr. Beck said.

“They’ve done something I didn’t think was possible. They’re going to make Bush seem very moderate and pro-worker,” he said.

Polls show a majority of Americans oppose amnesties, while a plurality would go even further and begin to reduce legal immigration.

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