Mood Swiftly Changes on Immigration

Reversing momentum that had been building in Washington for a relaxation of U.S. immigration laws, last week’s terrorist attacks appear likely to spawn a rash of measures designed to tighten the nation’s borders.

On Capitol Hill, legislators who until recently talked about new legalization programs are now focused almost entirely on hiring more U.S. Border Patrol agents, improving background checks on visa applicants and possibly overhauling the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

The White House made it clear Monday that tightening restrictions will be on its agenda, too, as Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft said new immigration measures will be part of an anti-terrorism legislative package delivered to Congress this week.

The flurry of activity underscores how swiftly the mood has changed in Washington from two weeks ago, when Mexican President Vicente Fox was toasted by every top official in town while urging sweeping immigration reforms.

The political prospects for many of those reform plans were always uncertain. President Bush warned Fox during their visit that even the least controversial items on their shared agenda would take months, if not years, to implement.

But across Washington on Monday, there was broad agreement that even if the reform agenda can be revived, it won’t be any time soon and will face a new level of scrutiny.

“We have known for a long time that we have an immigration problem here that is being taken advantage of by terrorists,” said Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.). “The reality is, we have never paid as much attention to that as we should.”

He and others said Congress will zero in on those issues now, as legislators plunge into a legislative agenda that has been rewritten since hijacked jetliners struck the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

Kyl and other legislators went out of their way to caution against any anti-immigrant backlash. Their criticism, they say, is aimed solely at the policies and procedures that allowed terrorists to slip into the country unfettered.

How the terrorists accomplished this remains one of the looming questions of a burgeoning criminal investigation. So far, information on the suspects’ immigration status has been scant.

Many immigration experts say that if there is a lesson for immigration policy, it is that the nation’s intelligence and enforcement efforts failed, not its immigration laws--which already ban admission of anyone with criminal histories or suspected ties to terrorist organizations.

“We do need greater scrutiny of people crossing our borders,” said Kathleen Newland, co-director of the Migration Policy Institute in Washington. “But we don’t need to stop people from crossing our borders.”

Many pro-immigrant advocates in Washington and Mexico are hoping that lesson is not lost on U.S. legislators. “The events of last week certainly will affect immigration law and policy,” said a Democratic Senate aide. “Our hope is that we won’t go down the road of 1995 and 1996,” when Congress passed strict immigration rules in response to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and other terrorist strikes.

Those changes allowed the Immigration and Naturalization Service much greater discretion in detaining immigrants, deporting them and restricting their access to counsel and federal courts. Some in Congress are already bracing for a push for further restrictions.

“There are going to be some who try to move us in a direction of isolationism,” said Rep. David Dreier (R-San Dimas). “I find that very troubling and I will do everything I possibly can to counter that. The society we have of openness must be continued.”

Dreier, who says that loosening immigration restrictions between Mexico and the United States could bolster commerce, denied that the terrorist attack would shelve the goals of Bush and Fox.

Meanwhile, new short-range goals are starting to become clear. Ashcroft did not elaborate on what immigration proposals might be part of the anti-terrorism package that the administration is assembling. But many expect a push to raise the funding for the Border Patrol. Senate aides said there will probably be an emphasis on bolstering agents’ presence along the U.S.-Canada border.

The attacks could also give new urgency to long-considered plans to give the State Department and the INS improved access to databases at the FBI and other intelligence agencies. Some experts noted that many U.S. embassies and consular offices--which field most visa applications--lack modern computers, let alone access to the latest lists of terrorist suspects.

White House officials did not return calls seeking comment.

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Times staff writers Janet Hook, Chris Kraul and Ronald Brownstein contributed to this story.