GOP gets message: Be tough on illegal immigration
By AURELIO ROJAS
June 25, 2006
In political circles, it has become known as the "Bilbray factor":
- Brian Bilbray, a former moderate Republican who lost his congressional seat in San Diego six years ago, rode anger about illegal immigration back to Washington with a victory in the June 6 special election. Republicans from Washington, D.C., to Sacramento took notice.
- The GOP shut down debate on immigration reform legislation backed by President Bush, scheduling another round of hearings and putting passage in doubt.
- In California, Republicans declared they are unwilling to vote for the budget, in part, over money set aside by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that would provide health care for children of illegal immigrants.
A dozen years after California Gov. Pete Wilson made the issue the cornerstone of his re-election campaign, unleashing deep emotions on both sides, the politics of illegal immigration is back.
Republicans say Bilbray's victory over Democrat Francine Busby, in a race watched nationally, confirmed that voters in this election year are angry about illegal immigration.
"Most of the pollsters we talk to say that the issue that used be No. 2, 3 or 4 is now No. 1," said California Senate Republican leader Dick Ackerman, adding it was "certainly" a factor in Bilbray's election.
California Assembly Republican leader George Plescia said Bilbray's election was the latest manifestation of the passions stirred by illegal immigration.
"We had those frustrations even before the Bilbray congressional race, but that certainly brought more attention to it," Plescia said. "Most members had been hearing it from constituents."
Those concerns had been falling on deaf ears since 1994, when California voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 187, which denied state funding for health care and education services to illegal immigrants.
The initiative was overturned by the courts. Since then, California has been a solidly Democratic state at the top of the ticket, except for Schwarzenegger, who in his re-election bid has taken a different approach than Wilson.
In a recent speech in Washington, Wilson again dismissed charges that Republicans in California were hurt by the Proposition 187 campaign.
Washington Post columnist David Broder reported that the former California governor echoed Bilbray's message that the Mexican border should be closed before Congress approves any guest worker program.
If a wall isn't built across the entire 2,000-mile length of the border, "you'll have 20 million, 35 million, 50 million" illegal immigrants in the country, Broder quoted Wilson as saying.
Illegal immigration has exposed deep fissures in the Republican Party. Bush and Schwarzenegger, who serve broad constituencies, are charting a moderate course, while politicians from safe GOP districts are representing their voters' narrower interests, said Allan Hoffenblum, a Los Angeles-based GOP strategist.
Too much has been made, Hoffenblum said, of Bilbray's victory in a Republican district that was only in play because of the bribery conviction of former Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham.
But the GOP has ramped up its attention to the issue in the three weeks since the election.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and other supporters cited Bilbray's victory as a factor influencing House leaders' decision to suspend negotiations on the immigration bill while a series of town hall meetings on immigration are held across the country this summer. The House has made no secret of its disdain for the Bush-backed Senate version, which would allow many illegal immigrants to seek U.S. citizenship, and establishes a guest worker program.
Bilbray, who has two children who graduated from high school in Virginia that are paying the higher out-of-state tuition to attend college in California, has joined in a class-action lawsuit challenging the state law that allows illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition.
The biggest issue in Bilbray's race was immigration; his district sits 30 miles from the Mexican border.
During the campaign, Republican challengers hammered away at his moderate position on some issues.
But Bilbray, who during his years out of Congress worked as a lobbyist for an anti-illegal immigration group, would not be outflanked on the issue.
"It's common sense and common decency," said Bilbray, who listed his occupation on the ballot as "immigration reform consultant." "It's like Sonny Bono said, 'What part of illegal don't you understand?' "
Bilbray said his election thawed the "chill" some politicians have felt against speaking out on the issue since Proposition 187. Politicians who previously had been reticent, he said, "are finding their spinal cord."
"The political correctness bug has spread so blatantly - and for so long - that people are really fed up with the thought police," he said. "I think people are finally rising up and saying, 'You know, wrong is wrong, right is right, illegal is illegal.' "
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