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Almost three weeks after a comprehensive immigration bill died in the Senate, House Democrats remain divided over how to proceed with their legislation while nearly three dozen House Republicans are pushing a bill specifically focused on border enforcement and cracking down on illegal immigrants.

House Democrats said they are evaluating whether to advance individual bills dealing with immigration and border security matters, but no consensus has emerged.

"We're doing an assessment of members, both in the majority and the minority, and trying to get a handle on what members want to pursue," said House Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee Chairman Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif. "There are ongoing discussions."

She added: "We're not going to do comprehensive immigration reform."

"We have no shortage of discrete issues to deal with," said Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif. "We're thinking about them; we're talking about them, but I'm not prepared to talk publicly about it."

Lofgren said discussions include whether to pursue the so-called Dream bill as stand-alone legislation. "That's one of things we're trying to do an assessment of," she said.

The Dream bill, which Lofgren co-sponsored, would provide a path to citizenship for students who are illegal immigrants if they entered the United States before they turned 16 and lived in the country for at least five years.

The students would be granted temporary legal status for six years during which they must attend college or serve in the military. They would then be eligible to receive a green card.

Berman said he would also like to see legislation dealing with workforce issues, such as H-1B visas or the AgJOBS bill to address a shortage of agricultural workers.

But Lofgren said it did not appear likely that any legislation would move before the end of the month. "I doubt very much that there would be time ... to bring to the floor something in the House before the August recess."

House Homeland Security Border Subcommittee Chairman Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., said it is "a good time to take a breather" from doing immigration and border security legislation.

Sanchez was working on a border security bill to go with immigration reform legislation. But she no longer plans on marking up a bill since the Senate's massive immigration bill was pulled off the floor agenda.

Sanchez will evaluate doing legislation in September to make improvements to existing border security programs. She said she is especially focused on addressing delays and complications with the Homeland Security Department's SBInet program and Transportation Worker Identification Credential program.

SBInet is focused on integrating technology, personnel and infrastructure to beef up the nation's border security. The TWIC program aims to give up to one million workers at U.S. seaports new identification cards with chips containing their information and a biometric fingerprint.

Meanwhile, a contingent of Republicans led by House Homeland Security ranking member Peter King, R-N.Y., and House Judiciary ranking member Lamar Smith, R-Texas, formally introduced a border enforcement bill last week.

Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., signed on as a co-sponsor, giving the bill some weight with the GOP leadership.

"King still believes the bill is as relevant as ever," a GOP aide said. "We're expecting to make a strong push on the legislation."

But the fate of the bill depends on what Democrats decide to do with it. So supporters are evaluating their options.

"There are a number of important provisions in the bill that could be moved as amendments or stand alone bills as well," the aide said. "Ranking member King is looking at a number of options."

COMMENTS

• I have no faith in the people that we have elected. They talk one way when wanting to be elected and talk another once they are elected. They are elected to represent all of our country, not just one specific district. What they do in Washington affects us all. As a Native American, I am proud of our country. I don't think that the European people stole our land. If they did, we would have done the same. The Europeans brought prosperity, education, and civilization to this great country. What happend 200 or 300 years ago has no bearing on what is going on today. We are the most generous country in the World. Are we perfect? I shall be the first person to say "No". But what other country in the world has brought so many people together to live and work, with protections, in a society as large as ours? However, today is another situtation. We are living in a world that everyone is envious of us and want to destroy us. We can't allow our borders to be unsecured. If a person comes to work here, we need to know who they are, what is their purpose for being here, are they disease free, have a knowledge of the ?English language and can support themselves for a period of time without the help of the American taxpayers. Is this too much to ask? They must be coming here for a reason. You don't see a mass exit of American Citizens going to other countries. One person indicated that illegals pay taxes. This is somewhat false. They pay taxes on gas, food, etc... However, they don't pay for child birth or any catrosphic care. Our hospitals are going broke and the American Citizen healthcare is going up to pay for these free services. Not many years ago, President Bush gave $1 billion dollars to the hospitals on border states to keep them open. Right now we are allowing Third World people to simply jump a fence and come into our country. Drug addiction, diseases, and violence have gone up tremendously. Every our Corporations are pandering to these folks by putting their signs up in English and Spanish. How are we going to assimulate these people if they don't know our language or culture. William Tell Posted August 25, 2008 7:39 AM
• I would like to remind all you posting comments that one thing is completely being overlooked and that is the silent war being waged by the hispanic polulation, specifically from Mexico. Historically, we won the Spanish American War, and with that we secured all the southern border states connected to Mexico. Now just like the Japanese, who lost to us as well, Mexico, while stealing a page from the Japanese, are slowly taking back what they lost. We used to be a powerhouse in electronics, Now Japan is, concurrently, we used to run CA, AZ, NM, TX, now Mexico does, except they are taking more then they lost. Hasta la vista! Southoftheborder Posted July 20, 2007 1:47 PM
• Please, no more crying over the past! America has provided opportunities for millions of people thru legal immigration. Illegal immigration is infiltration. The real costs in education, medical care, etc. are never mentioned. We cannot and should not become the welfare shelter for the Third World. Stop this social worker nonsense now. Christmas Tree Posted July 19, 2007 12:53 PM