20070604 McCain fires back at conservative immigration critics

McCain fires back at conservative immigration critics

June 4, 2007

Story Highlights

Conservatives criticize Sen. John McCain for backing immigration reform
Plan to give illegal immigrants visa "amnesty," conservatives say
Arizona Republican says doing nothing amounts to "silent amnesty"
McCain accuses fellow candidate Mitt Romney of pandering on the issue

[…]

From Candy Crowley and Sasha Johnson

CNN Washington Bureau

Manchester, New Hampshire (CNN) -- Immigration reform is proving to be a divisive issue for the Republican Party. But few prominent Republicans are feeling the heat like Sen. John McCain of Arizona, a fact that prompted the 2008 contender to address the issue head-on Monday.

"I'm not running to do the easy things," McCain told the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce in a speech. "I defend with no reservation our proposal to offer the people who harvest our crops, tend our gardens, work in our restaurants, care for our children and clean our homes a chance to be legal citizens of this country."

McCain earned the ire of conservatives when he co-sponsored immigration reform legislation with Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, last year -- a proposal critics charged provided amnesty to illegal immigrants.

The current iteration of the Senate's immigration compromise has prompted similar outcries, but does not have McCain's name attached to it, although the senator said he was heavily involved in its negotiation.

(Watch McCain ally Sen. Lindsey Graham try to sell the immigration plan in South Carolina)

"Illegal immigration and our porous borders are problems that we have, to our shame, ignored for too long because it was too hard and politically risky to solve," McCain said. "A number of us -- Republicans and Democrats and the president, have tried to meet this responsibility.

"We have proposed a remedy that, while imperfect as all compromises are, is nevertheless a serious, comprehensive and practical attempt to secure our borders," he said.

Read the rest here: McCain fires back at conservative immigration critics

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