On immigrtion, Obama and McCain differ mostly in nuanceation

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WASHINGTON -- They may disagree over the war in Iraq or the fundamentals of the economy or any number of other pressing issues.But when it comes to immigration reform -- a topic so volatile that, not long ago, it touched off massive street protests across the country -- there's not a lot of difference in the positions staked out by presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain."It's pretty much the same," said David Rodriguez, a Latino activist from California.Indeed, immigration reform may be the singular issue of the 2008 presidential campaign in which Obama and McCain agree the most.-- Both want to secure the nation's borders and voted in 2006 to build a 700-mile fence along the southern boundary with Mexico.-- Both argue that legal status should be offered to immigrants who entered the United States illegally as long as they learn English, pay fines and pass a background check.-- Both promise to crack down on employers who hire undocumented workers. But both also favor increasing the number of people who can enter the country legally to meet the demand for jobs that employers cannot fill.-- There's also this: Neither candidate has devoted much time or energy on immigration reform while on the campaign trail, much to the dismay of those on both sides of the debate."Neither one of the presidential candidates or the vice president (candidates) have been addressing this as fully as they should be doing," said Carl "Two Feathers" Whitaker, one of the leaders of Tennessee Volunteer Minutemen, which wants to stop immigrants from coming into the country illegally."They don't want to put that much emphasis on it -- both candidates -- because they're afraid they'll lose some of the Latino vote, and if they keep quiet, they may gain that," Whitaker said. "We don't understand."It wasn't long ago that immigration reform was on the minds of every politician in Washington.McCain, a Republican senator from Arizona, co-authored legislation with Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., in 2005 that would have dramatically changed the nation's immigration laws.The bill included many of the same proposals now supported by McCain and Obama -- more border security, a get-tough approach on employers who hire undocumented workers, a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who entered the country illegally.But the McCain-Kennedy legislation ran into fierce resistance, especially from McCain's fellow Republicans, and died without ever being put to a vote.McCain has taken the scars from that battle with him on the campaign trail. As the GOP nominee for president, he now says he understands that Americans want the nation's borders secured before they will embrace comprehensive immigration reform.--Border control:The proposal McCain is now pushing calls for shoring up the nation's borders first -- through the use of unmanned aircraft and spending more money on training facilities, staff and equipment. Governors of border states would be required to certify that their borders are secured. Only then would other reforms, such as allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain citizenship, take effect.Obama, an Illinois senator and the Democratic presidential nominee, also supports additional personnel, infrastructure and technology to shore up the borders but has not said explicitly that must happen first.McCain's border-security-first approach has led to some grumbling that he is backing away from his commitment to comprehensive reform to keep from alienating voters whom he'll need in the presidential election."I thought this was somebody who was going to be friendly to this and that might be a characteristic we would like about him," said Father Ragan Schriver, executive director of Catholic Charities of East Tennessee. But, "he has shifted on several things, and that was one of them. You wonder what you are getting when you really vote for someone.'' Rodriguez, however, said his group doesn't see McCain that way."In fact, our private meetings with him have been just the opposite," said Rodriguez, who serves as California deputy director of the League of United Latin American Citizens. "Every time he has committed to doing something, he does it. But he has just been unable to pass it in the United States Senate."The rest of McCain's and Obama's immigration platform is similar, give or take some subtle nuances.-- Guest workers:McCain promises to implement a temporary guest-worker program that would allow immigrants to enter the country to work in jobs that employers can't fill. Specifically, he pledges to reform caps on the H-1B visa program so that they can rise and fall in response to market conditions. He also vows to increase the number of available green cards to reflect employer and employee demand.Obama's plan doesn't explicitly mention a guest worker program, but does call for increasing the number of people allowed in the United States legally to a level that keeps families together and meets the demand for jobs that employers cannot fill.-- Workplace:In this, both McCain and Obama favor using an electronic verification system to help employers determine whether their employees are eligible to work in the United States.Ironically, the two candidates' similar positions may actually be hurting the chances for comprehensive reform regardless of whoever moves into the White House next January, said Steven Camarota of the Center for Immigration Studies.Because there are no stark differences in their positions, neither candidate is pressing the issue. And because there is no debate over the immigration reform, "there is no shaping of public opinion toward their position," said Camarota, whose Washington-based group favors limits on immigration.The end result will likely mean the candidate who wins won't be able to claim that his election was a mandate for comprehensive reform. That will make it hard to get any comprehensive bill through Congress, Camarota said."It leaves us basically where we were: A president who wants it, a Democratic Senate who wants it, and (Congress) members who are terrified to vote for it," Camarota said.(E-mail Scripps Howard News Service reporter Michael Collins at collinsm(at)shns.com.) (Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)