House Border Bills Target Gangs, Tunnels

The House on Thursday approved three new bills targeting illegal immigration, including one that would make it a crime to tunnel under the border and another making it easier to deport gang members who are not citizens.

The action followed House approval last week of a proposed 700-mile fence along the border with Mexico -- legislation the Senate is now debating -- and passage earlier this week of a bill meant to prevent illegal immigrants from voting.

The measures stem from the push by House Republican leaders for the federal government to focus on securing the nation’s border before dealing with other immigration-related issues.

House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) hailed Thursday’s bills as evidence that GOP lawmakers were “serious about securing our border and enforcing our law.” He said he was hopeful the bills could be on President Bush’s desk “in a matter of weeks.”

But a key Republican senator cast doubt on the prospects of any of the House measures, questioning the wisdom of enacting enforcement-oriented legislation without grappling with the citizenship status of illegal immigrants in the U.S. or calls by the business community for a guest worker program.

“I don’t see how we can deal with the immigration issue on a piecemeal basis,” said Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Most senators have supported the more sweeping rewrite of immigration policy endorsed by Bush. And Specter expressed concern that House leaders would have little incentive to negotiate other immigration-related matters in the future “if we take care of all of their priorities and none of the Senate’s.”

Congressional Democrats, meanwhile, emphasized their opposition to the House approach at an annual Capitol Hill summit with Latino leaders.

“Republicans claim to be on the side of Hispanics, but their record doesn’t match their rhetoric,” said Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.).

“You cannot be on the side of Hispanics, especially when you demagogue the immigration issue, when you are refusing to support sound solutions to one of the most pressing issues in America.”

The decision by House Republicans to back border security and more aggressive enforcement of immigration laws while eschewing talks over establishing a guest worker program or creating a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants is in part designed to motivate the party’s conservative base in an election year.

The question among political analysts in both parties is whether the strategy could earn the GOP short-term gains in November at the expense of the party’s longer-term fortunes. Latinos are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population and are expected to make up about one-quarter of the population by 2050.

Most of the legislation that cleared the House on Thursday had been approved previously by the chamber as part of a single bill it passed in December.

One of the new measures would authorize the indefinite detention of some illegal immigrants, a move that would overturn two Supreme Court decisions declaring that practice unlawful. The bill would also bar gang members from entering the country and allow the Department of Homeland Security to quickly deport noncitizens if it believes they are gang members.

It passed 328-95.

A second bill would speed the ability of immigration officers to deport people and limit their access to appeal. It would strip Salvadorans of a special immigration status that has protected many from deportation. And it would affirm the right of state and local law enforcement to help enforce federal immigration laws. It passed 277-140.

The third bill would impose a 20-year prison sentence on anyone who digs a tunnel under the U.S. border. People who permit tunnel construction on their property would earn a 10-year sentence.

The bill, identical to legislation sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), was sponsored by David Dreier (R-San Dimas) and approved unanimously, 422-0.

nicole.gaouette@latimes.com