Analysis: Elections Snarl Immigration Bill

U.S. Border Patrol agent Gus Soto detains a group of illegal immigrants near Arivaca, Ariz. on Friday, May 26, 2006. (AP Photo/Khampha Bouaphanh) (Khampha Bouaphanh - AP)

WASHINGTON -- To hear President Bush and his strategists describe it, tougher border security and compassion for illegal immigrants are both in the nation's interest and winning election-year politics.

Republican Rep. Tom Osborne of Nebraska might beg to differ.

His recent disastrous brush with immigration politics shows how difficult it will be for the Republican-controlled Congress to pass legislation on the issue this year _ even though many GOP lawmakers recognize their success in November voting may depend on their ability to deliver.

Osborne, a legendary former University of Nebraska football coach and a third-term congressman, partially blames the issue for his recent loss to incumbent Dave Heineman in the governor's race primary.

"Illegal immigration puts a burden on our taxpayers," Heineman said in campaign ads after vetoing legislation to make children of illegal immigrants eligible for in-state tuition at Nebraska schools.

Osborne sided with supporters of the state legislation. "I said I really don't think you punish children for what their parents did," he said in a recent interview in the Capitol. Voters were given information that was not completely accurate, he added. "I don't think they really understood."

Osborne is hardly an amnesty advocate. He introduced legislation that requires illegal immigrants to return to their home country and seek the papers necessary to return legally to the United States.

In fact, politicians in both parties report that initial voter response is often hostile to legislation along the lines that Bush favors and the Senate passed last week. Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, seeking re-election this fall, was one of four Democrats to oppose the measure.

The bill includes more money for border security, a guest worker program and a shot at citizenship for many of the estimated 11 million men and women illegally in the country.

It passed the Senate, 62-36, on the strength of a bipartisan coalition in which Democrats outnumbered Republicans. The GOP leadership was split; Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee voted in favor but four others against. The opponents included Sen. Rick Santorum, in an exceedingly difficult re-election race in Pennsylvania, and Sen. Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina, head of the party campaign committee.

Both felt it necessary to part company with a president who has become increasingly emphatic about the approach he wants from Congress.

"America can be a lawful society and a welcoming society at the same time," Bush said in an Oval Office speech nearly two weeks ago.