Published: July 15, 2008 08:54 am            

McCain discusses bill for illegal immigrants

SAN DIEGO — John McCain said Monday that he would support a single legislative bill that would address both border security and the legalization of those now in the country illegally.

However, he reiterated securing the border would have to be achieved before beginning the legalization process, even if both issues were in the same bill.

The statements — which helps define a shift in McCain’s earlier position — came at the conference of the National Council of La Raza in San Diego, when the presidential candidate took questions from the audience. He was specifically pressed on whether he would address both issues in a single bill.

“Yes, of course,” said the Republican candidate. “But first, we have to secure our borders.”

McCain upset anti-illegal immigration activists and many in his own party when he teamed up in 2005 with Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy to sponsor a comprehensive immigration bill that would legalize those now in the country illegally. The bill failed, and McCain said he learned from the battle that the borders need to be secured first.

In recent weeks McCain has repeated his view that those here illegally need to be treated with compassion, causing some to wonder exactly what he planned for immigration reform.

There is “confusion as to where his substance is,” said Cecilia Munoz, La

Raza’s vice president for policy, before McCain’s speech. “People accept that he is still committed to some kind of path to citizenship but they’re less clear on when he intends to get there and how he intends to get there.”

Some confusion remained after the 30-minute speech, in which he discussed the need for “comprehensive immigration reform” and after 15-minutes of a question-and-answer session.

“He’s doing a delicate dance,” said Peter Villegas after hearing McCain, noting the candidate’s desire to appeal to Latinos while retaining the support of grassroots Republicans.

Barack Obama, who addressed La Raza on Sunday, has a 2-1 advantage over McCain among Latino voters, according to an AP-Yahoo poll, and is seen as more friendly to the cause of illegal immigrants.

But McCain has a long relationship with La Raza, the nation’s largest advocacy group of Latinos, and has twice won the group’s Congressional Leadership Award. He was heckled briefly during his speech Monday, but he was otherwise warmly received with his speech regularly punctuated by applause.

Like Obama’s speech to the group, McCain addressed the need to improve the economy and education, and his support for small businesses. But McCain drew a distinction from his opponent in his unabashed support for the North America Free Trade Agreement, Central American Free Trade Agreement, and the Colombian Free Trade Agreement.

He used the international trade portion of his speech to tout his experience abroad.

“I hope Senator Obama soon visits some of the other countries of the Americas for the first time,” McCain said. “Were he to do so, I think he, too, would see that stronger economic bonds with our neighbors and the closer friendships they encourage, are a great benefit in many ways to our country.”

But during the question-and-answer portion, virtually all of the questions related to immigration, and McCain grew visibly more animated when he set aside his prepared speech for spontaneous interaction.

“That was the best portion,” said Villegas, who works at a bank and said he hasn’t decided who he’s voting for. “He went to the next level and was energized. I wish Obama would have done that, but he’s in the lead and he doesn’t have to put himself in that position.”

McCain continued to field questions even after La Raza organizers tried to wrap up the session. After organizers took the audience microphone, McCain tossed his own wireless microphone to Enrique Morones, a controversial leader of the Border Angels group.

Morones, whose group provides water and other help for those who have crossed the border illegally, challenged McCain to end the “militarization of the border.”

McCain responded without hesitation that drugs flowing across the border were a serious problem and that there was little room for negotiation when it came to border security.

“The United States of America has to have secure borders, but we can address the issue in a humane fashion,” he said.

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(Orange County Register Washington Bureau Chief Dena Bunis contributed to this report.)

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