Kyl plans new, revised immigration reform bill

U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl plans to introduce an immigration enforcement bill before the Senate’s month-long summer recess starts on Aug. 4.

The Arizona Republican’s new tactic will be more narrowly focused than the Senate’s previous and unsuccessful approach that tried to link immigration enforcement to immigration reform. The broader measure collapsed in June.

The new legislation will offer a selection of immigration enforcement options that were identified during and after debate surrounding the failed immigration reform bill, Kyl said.

“It will be kind of a menu of all the kinds of things you can pick from if you wanted to do enforcement first. I think we need to change some laws in that regard,” Kyl said Monday during an interview on radio station KTAR-FM 92.3.

Kyl did not elaborate on his p lans during the interview. Later, through a spokesman, he declined an interview with the Tribune because the language of the new bill has yet to be finalized.

Kyl was one of the chief architects of the previous immigration reform bill, which included several border and interior enforcement provisions. Among them: new border fencing, vehicle barriers, ground-based radar and camera towers, more U.S. Border Patrol agents, an employment eligibility verification system, and criminal and civil penalties for employers who hire illegal immigrants.

It was unclear Tuesday whether Kyl plans to recycle any of those provisions in his new bill.

Most of the controversy surrounding the failed bill centered on its other features, including a system to provide millions of illegal immigrants already living in the United States legal status and eventual citizenship, and a guest worker program for foreign nationals to work in the United States legally.

Kyl was roundly criticized by fellow Republicans for supporting the previous bill. They said it offered “amnesty” to illegal immigrants.

In June, Kyl argued that it wasn’t amnesty, because it required illegal immigrants to undergo background checks, pay fines, learn English and fulfill other requirements.

Kyl told KTAR he didn’t regret his position on the failed immigration reform bill.

“I regret not doing a better job explaining what we thought we had accomplished that made the bill acceptable from my point of view,” he said. “Obviously, there were parts of it that I didn’t like. I thought I was getting some pretty good concessions from the other side. And by the way, they had some objections from their side, as well.”

Guiding an immigration enforcement bill through the Senate undoubtedly will present new challenges, because unlike the previous bill, it likely will lack provisions attractive to some liberal members of Congress.

Immigration enforcement and reform measures have two basic trade-offs, Kyl said.

“One side wants to go easy on the enforcement and provide regularization to all of the people who are here; the other side wants to be really tough on enforcement and not provide for the regularization,” he said.

Elías Bermúdez, leader of the activist group Immigrants Without Borders, said an enforcement bill will be ill-fated. “I don’t think it will pass. I don’t think they’ll find a single Democrat who will go for enforcement only – and they are going to need the Democrats,” he said.

Arizona Republican Party chairman Randy Pullen, who opposed the previous reform legislation, said the concept appears promising. “Clearly, enforcement related bills would be much better received by the party in general, not only in Arizona, but nationally,” he said.