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Senate Democrats next week plan to counter Republican proposals on immigration and border security by emphasizing their ideas on the hot-button issue.

According to talking points circulated Friday by Democratic leaders to rank-and-file offices, Democrats will say they have "real solutions, with tough, effective enforcement and smart reforms that will secure our borders." The e-mail memorandum instructed Democrats to emphasize that the party does not support amnesty.

"No free pass, no automatic pardon and no jumping to the front of the line," it read. But the memo also indicated Democrats think they need to walk a fine line between tough talk on border enforcement and compassion toward undocumented workers.

"[B]y reducing the flow of undocumented immigrants and creating a legal path for those hard-working families already here, we can finally focus on catching the criminals and terrorists who put our nation at risk," reads the memo.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., plans to take up immigration legislation Tuesday, beginning with debate on an enforcement and border security measure. Frist has said he would allow Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., to bring up his comprehensive immigration package if he can get it through committee early next week.

While Democrats plan to hold news conferences next week to highlight their position, party leaders have not crafted a substitute bill with specific provisions reflecting the party's ideas. The memo said Democrats want to "crack down" on businesses that hire illegal immigrants and "bring undocumented immigrants out of the shadows."

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said this week he would support a bipartisan bill drafted by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., that would allow the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants an opportunity to earn U.S. citizenship.

Over the last few months, Democrats have aggressively sought to burnish their credentials on national security issues, aiming to gain voter confidence in an area that has been largely monopolized by Republicans. They believe the party must frame next week's debate on immigration reform as a "security issue."

Democrats such as Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., a potential presidential contender in 2008 who has been reluctant to outline her position on the issue, also are padding the hard-hitting security rhetoric with attacks on the GOP-backed bill in order to court Latino and other immigrant groups.

Clinton told an Irish immigrant group that the Republican border enforcement bill would lead to "a massive hunt for illegal aliens."

COMMENTS

• Of course OSHA is concerned with worker safety! It's the Occupational Safety and Health Administration! Worker safety is pretty much the sole purpose of OSHA's existence. Enforcing immigration laws is ICE's problem, not OSHA's. The ICE idea sounds like a neat trick, but it's probably better to coordinate this kind of thing. Do you really think it was a good idea for ICE agents to impersonate OSHA without any kind of notification? It seems the problem here is territorial. OSHA doesn't like other agencies invading its turf, and ICE doesn't bother to take that into account. If the two agencies had worked together, there wouldn't have been a problem. Captain Obvious Posted April 3, 2006 4:03 PM
• Bush and Congress better wake up. They are selling us down the river. Pretty soon this will not be America. It will be Big Mexico. I am sick and tired of all this crap. I am a 55-year-old single grandmother and sole provider for my 78-year-old mother. I pay an ungodly amount of taxes because I have to work two jobs to make ends meet. Do you think I get any help from the government!! No! My son is in debt for a student loan $25,000. Do the illegal immigrants have to pay to go to college? No!! I can barely feed my family. Can I get food stamps or assistance? No!! Can the illegal immigrants. Yes!!! I am sick and tired of pay my taxes to support Bush's crap. Congress, wake up! We are in big trouble. Hunt them down, kick them out. Build a wall. Make them earn their right to be here before they enter our borders and learn to speak English. Believe me if we had to go live there, they would make us learn Spanish. I am fighting for my life and my children and their children’s rights as a born American who has paid taxes my entire life. Somebody save us. GovExec.com reader Posted March 29, 2006 9:03 AM
• And this is how silly it's become... ICE tried an innovative method recently to round up illegals -- they used an OSHA workshop ruse to draw a crowd. Then, ICE agents moved in, arresting almost 30 people. Know what happened next? You guessed it: OSHA created a stink about the ruse, and contacted ICE to file a protest. In return, ICE apologized-that's right, apologized to OSHA for this "stunt" and, with its tail between its legs, promised that it wouldn't happen again. I guess OSHA, despite the illegality of the workers, is more concerned about worker safety than legality. As for the poor agents who devised this brilliant plan, sorry to say, I can only imagine they may face some nebulous disciplinary action as "rogue" agents engaging in "unsanctioned" activities to spare the SAC and headquarters types the embarrassment. So, when people ask, especially in light of all these immigrant rights protests, where ICE agents are, I'll tell you where they are: Hiding in their cubicles from the headquarters and SAC types who will sell them down the river and up a tree for doing their jobs when it becomes too politically embarrassing for them. And, by the way, they're probably either putting in retirement papers, resignation letters or transfer applications to other law enforcement agencies, because they are in a no-win situation, no matter what they do, and they can't wait to get off the suicide freight train fast enough. GovExec.com reader Posted March 29, 2006 7:21 PM