Some in GOP seek new migrant tone

A growing number of influential Republicans in Arizona are speaking out in favor of an alternative approach to immigration -- one that includes a guest-worker program and letting undocumented immigrants gain legal status.

Along with those elements, the approach calls for securing the border and remaining tough on immigration enforcement.

Among the notable Arizona Republicans calling for a shift are Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, a supporter of Senate Bill 1070, the immigration-enforcement law, and Mesa businessman Bob Worsley, who defeated former state Senate President Russell Pearce in a Senate race in last month's Republican primary.

Pearce, the main architect of Senate Bill 1070, was voted out of office in a recall election last year in which he was defeated by Jerry Lewis, a charter-school administrator from Mesa who also is a prominent voice in support of alternative approaches to illegal immigration.

The move to embrace what Republican supporters consider a more practical, market-driven approach contrasts starkly with enforcement-only laws such as SB 1070 that conservative Republicans in Arizona have pushed for years. Other states have copied such laws. The harder-line approach has earned Arizona a reputation as one of the toughest enforcement states in the nation and a pioneer at cracking down on illegal immigrants.

The effort to shift the immigration debate comes as influential Republicans in other states, such as U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, also are seeking a broader approach toward tackling illegal immigration. But whether the shift will gain traction remains to be seen.

Conservatives still dominate the GOP-controlled state Legislature, and Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer continues to be an ardent defender of SB 1070 and a fierce critic of illegal immigration.

Last month, she issued an executive order instructing state agencies to make sure young illegal immigrants allowed to stay and work in the U.S. under President Barack Obama's deferred-action program don't get driver's licenses or public benefits. She also doesn't want to allow them to pay the lower in-state tuition rate regardless of how long they've lived in the state.

Last week, the Republican National Convention also adopted a platform saying Arizona-style enforcement laws should be embraced, not attacked.

Refocusing GOP approach

Efforts to recast the GOP's approach to illegal immigration in Arizona are motivated by many factors, including pressure from business groups and leaders who feel that enforcement-only laws have hurt the state's reputation and the economy. Also, there is an attempt to win over politically important Latino voters turned off by the Republican Party's harsh stance on illegal immigration.

At the center of the change is a four-point plan that supporters say starts with securing the border but also includes a guest-worker program to make it easier for foreign workers to enter the country legally to fill labor needs in the U.S.

Another part would revise the nation's visa system, letting illegal immigrants already here gain lawful status so that they can work legally and pay taxes. The final point calls for using enforcement laws such as SB1070 to identify and deport criminals rather than breaking up families.

"This is something I believe the Republican Party is ready to talk about in Arizona, and it was not going to happen with Russell Pearce in office," said Worsley, who received 56 percent of the vote, compared with 44 percent for Pearce, in last month's primary race and will face Democrat Greg Gadek in November.

"This is a significant shift away from what looks like a hard-hearted, harsh-enforcement police state versus being sensitive to a multicultural population that we have with some compassion and keeping families together," Worsley said.

Montgomery, who supported SB 1070 when he campaigned for Maricopa County attorney in 2010, has been touting the four-point plan at speaking engagements around the Valley.

He said he still believes SB 1070 was a good law because it was effective at achieving "attrition through enforcement," a strategy aimed at driving illegal immigrants out of the state by making life as difficult as possible for them.

"What I am talking about is what comes next" after SB 1070, Montgomery said.

He noted that the Supreme Court has struck down most of the law. Last Wednesday, however, a U.S. District Court judge in Phoenix cleared the way for the most controversial part to take effect. That part requires local police to check the status of people at traffic stops and other encounters if they suspect them of being in the country illegally.

At public events and forums, Montgomery has been pushing for a broader approach that begins with achieving operational control of the border.

In an interview, Montgomery defined operational control of the border as what has happened in the Border Patrol's Yuma Sector. Although the sector once was one of the busiest on the U.S.-Mexican border, apprehensions have plummeted there and illegal immigrants and drug smugglers who do attempt to cross face a high likelihood of being caught, he said.

Once operational control has been achieved, Montgomery said, he would like to see a three-year moratorium on the prosecution of illegal immigrants and businesses that hire illegal workers.

During that time, illegal immigrants could register with the federal government to receive temporary-residency status. Anyone with a felony, or who committed one later, would be quickly deported. But those with clean records could eventually be allowed to apply for legal permanent residency.

Montgomery said no one, however, would be allowed to apply for citizenship unless they first returned to their home country and applied like anyone else.

Montgomery bristled when asked if his plan could be considered amnesty by critics.

"Let's be very clear. It does not provide a path to citizenship," Montgomery said, referring to comprehensive immigration-reform bills that have been shot down in the past in Congress in part because they include a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

What to do about the millions of illegal immigrants living in the U.S. has been the most contentious issue in the immigration debate.

Many enforcement-only advocates consider giving any form of legalization to illegal immigrants amnesty. Some Republicans branded Obama's recent deferred-action program as a form of "backdoor amnesty" because it allows young illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as minors to apply to stay and work temporarily.

The platform adopted by the Republican National Convention last month opposes "any form of amnesty" for illegal immigrants, which indicates the uphill battle Republicans like Montgomery will face in pushing for changes.

Montgomery said allowing undocumented immigrants to register with the federal government would serve several purposes. It would let the government identify people who entered the country illegally and gather information about where they work. That information could be used to revamp the nation's visa system so that it is based on labor needs in specific industries, not on an outdated quota system, he said.

Lewis said the enforcement-only approach "hasn't worked. It doesn't work. Any reform that is based on an enforcement-only platform is bound to fail."

He wants to see the state adopt an approach that is tied to the economy and includes a guest-worker program and a legalization program.

To do that, he said, a broad coalition of business groups, religious organizations, educators, immigrant advocates and other elected officials, including "like-minded" Republicans, are drafting a plan to present to Arizona's congressional delegation in hopes they will take it to Congress.

"They've got to be laws that help our economy, laws that strengthen our families and respect the sovereignty of our nation, but we can do that in a way that respects humanity," Lewis said.

Whether the governor or the Republican-controlled Legislature is willing to move beyond the state's enforcement-only approach remains unclear.

Matthew Benson, the governor's spokesman, said Brewer believes the border must be secured before there can be any discussion of what to do about illegal immigrants already here.

"Priority Number 1 is you get your border secured, and then you can begin talking about the individuals who are already here, including the childhood arrivals," Benson said.

Brewer, however, does support a guest-worker program.

She "believes that we need to have some way to bring in a source of labor for the industries that needed it in this country but to do it in a way that is well managed and supervised," he said.

Republican state Senate President Steve Pierce said he believes more immigration bills will be introduced in the next legislative session, but he would not say whether he would back more bills that focus only on enforcement.

"You have to wait and see what is introduced," he said.

He said, however, that while he supports a guest-worker program, he opposes legalizing undocumented immigrants.

"That's amnesty," he said.

Alternative solutions

Todd Landfried, executive director of Arizona Employers for Immigration Reform, said the four-point plan being touted by some Republicans grew out of a series of forums held over the past year to explore solutions to illegal immigration besides enforcement-only measures.

Tamar Jacoby, president of Immigration Works USA, a federation of pro-immigration business coalitions, said business groups in other states have also been pushing lawmakers to try a different approach.

Earlier this year, some Republicans in Kansas introduced a bill backed by farm groups that would have let undocumented immigrants get permits to legally fill jobs in agriculture and other industries that needed the workers.

The bill was opposed by more conservative Republicans in the state, including Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who developed the legal framework for Arizona's SB 1070 and was the driving force behind the tougher immigration-enforcement plank adopted at the Republican National Convention.

In June, Republicans in Texas approved a party platform calling for a national guest-worker program.

Several other states also have considered creating their own guest-worker programs, including Oklahoma, New Mexico, California and Vermont, said Tanya Broder, an attorney who tracks immigration legislation for the California-based National Immigration Law Center.

Utah has already passed a law to create its own guest-worker program allowing illegal immigrants to work in the state.

It's unclear, however, whether the federal government will allow Utah to implement the program.

Still, Broder said, the alternative approach being pursued by Utah and other states shows that "overtime, states recognize that immigrants are an integral part of the state, the economy and the community and are part of the state's future and it's important to invest in these communities rather than isolate them."

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