The Big Story: Arizona response to Senate vote: jeers to cheers

Reactions among Arizonans over the U.S. Senate’s failure Thursday to move immigration reform legislation forward ranged from frustration to elation.

Gov. Janet Napolitano and several members of the state’s congressional delegation expressed their severe disappointment. Ditto the views from immigrants’ rights advocates.

But opponents such as state legislator Russell Pearce and Minuteman leader Chris Simcox couldn’t be happier.

And some on both sides agreed the legislation was “a bad bill.”

Sen. Jon Kyl tried to persuade fellow conservative Republicans to accept the legislative package providing for both more border security and a path to legalization for many here illegally.

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain of Arizona voted to keep the immigration measure alive.“I am hopeful that we will have another chance to address this critical national security issue that affects people throughout our country. In the meantime, we must keep working to secure our borders while we continue fighting to reform our unenforceable immigration laws.”

Republican Kyl said the Senate vote reflects the lack of confidence many Americans have in the government’s ability to do anything right.

“There is just not enough of a consensus in the middle to carry 60 votes,” Kyl said.

In a teleconference call, Kyl said he and others will continue to pursue any viable way to advance immigration reform, with a piecemeal approach calling for more border security first probably more likely but also risky.

Advocates of a guest worker program want assurances that illegal immigrants would not be deported while waiting to gain legal status, he said. He said the issue is too big to ignore until after the 2008 presidential election.

U.S. Rep. Harry Mitchell, D-Ariz., said he was deeply disappointed that the Senate “let down the American people,” and Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., a key sponsor of immigration reform legislation in the House, said, “We all agree that the status quo is unacceptable... At some point we’re going to have to come together and pass a bill we can agree on.”

U.S, Rep. Gabielle Giffords said she would continue to fight for immigration reform. “My district in Southern Arizona confronts the many negative impacts of illegal immigration every day. The toll is profound. I will not relent lin my efforts to find ways to remove the unfunded mandates placed on local law enforcement, health and social service agencies and our public schools.” She lauded Kyl and other members of the Senate immigration coalition for their efforts.

Roberto Reveles, past president of Somos America, an immigrant advocacy organization, said the vote didn’t surprise him and will force people “to think more seriously about the manner in which this proposal was put together.”

He said he wants to see “honest-to-goodness field hearings” and a serious look at the factors causing the constant flow of immigration and it real costs and benefits to the economy.

The legislation was “a bad bill getting worse as the days progressed,” said Jennifer Allen, director of the immigrant rights group Border Action Network.

“We’re just very disappointed that the leadership that we’ve been seeing in this debate has come from our communities” and not Congress, she said.

Despite 20 years of failed immigration and border policies, she said, “we’ll keep struggling to have policies that reflect or recognize the rights and dignities of immigrants in border communities.”

An ecstatic state Rep. Russell Pearce, the Arizona Legislature’s leading advocate for limiting illegal immigration, said enforcement is what’s needed, not immigration reform.

“It’s a great day for legal, lawful, law-abiding citizens,” said Pearce, R-Mesa.

The head of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, whose volunteers patrol some border areas to report illegal crossers to the Border Patrol, hailed the bill’s defeat.

“Our efforts have proved successful in defeating bad legislation,” said Chris Simcox. “I think the Senate still has an opportunity to do the right thing.”

The Senate can “bring back border security, bring back workplace enforcement, and it will pass,” he said. After that, it can figure out how to reconstitute a guest worker program.

Simcox also criticized President Bush for shirking his duty as commander in chief to secure the borders. “Anarchy reigns along the border because the president passes the buck on his responsibility,” he said.