Immigration a gamble for Arizona's senators

Dan Nowicki | The Arizona Republic

PHOENIX -- After five terms in the Senate and possibly nearing the end of his career, John McCain would like immigration overhaul to be a crowning achievement in his political legacy.

For Jeff Flake, a newcomer to the upper chamber after 12 years in the House, an immigration overhaul is critical to winning over Latino voters and keeping the Republican Party competitive as the fast-growing Hispanic voter bloc alters the political landscape in Arizona and the nation. It could improve the electoral fortunes of Flake and his party for years to come.

But beyond that, the two Arizona senators, who have emerged as leaders in the push this year for comprehensive immigration changes, view the legislation as an opportunity to repair their state's reputation, which has been battered by the immigration fight over Arizona's Senate Bill 1070, allegations of racial profiling and border vigilantes.

Both McCain and Flake say immigration changes are crucial to Arizona, which has been the epicenter of the emotional debate over the nation's broken borders. Arizona is the main gateway for illegal immigration, proportionally has one of the largest populations of undocumented immigrants, and has faced political blowback for enacting laws to address the federal problem.

The two senators are set to provide more insight into their positions Tuesday during "A Conversation on Immigration with John McCain and Jeff Flake," a hourlong event presented by The Arizona Republic, KPNX-TV, Phoenix, and azcentral.com. The discussion, at 1 p.m. ET at the Mesa Arts Center, will be streamed live on azcentral.com and usatoday.com.

McCain and Flake's participation in the bipartisan "Gang of Eight," which wrote the Senate immigration bill, was a political gamble. The bill calls for a sweeping overhaul of the nation's immigration system that would include a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants already settled in the country as well as a massive investment in border security and new visa programs for foreign workers.

Though the legislation cleared the Senate with bipartisan support June 27, it was stillborn in the Republican-run House of Representatives. But while Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and other GOP leaders explicitly have rejected the comprehensive Senate approach, the House is set to tackle the immigration issue this fall with a series of bills that zero in on individual topics such as border security and the "dreamers," the young immigrants who as children were brought into the country without authorization. Advocates hope the House will pass some sort of legislation that could be reconciled with the Senate bill.

While McCain and Flake are taking heat from some on the right, they're being praised by national immigration-overhaul champions.

"It's so rare for politicians these days to be leaders and to take risks," said Frank Sharry, founder and executive director of the pro-immigration-change organization America's Voice in Washington, D.C. "When that wasn't happening, Arizona was defined by the likes of (Gov.) Jan Brewer and (Maricopa County Sheriff) Joe Arpaio and (former state Senate President and SB 1070 sponsor) Russell Pearce."

Legacy issue

McCain has a long history of supporting comprehensive immigration changes.

He negotiated with the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., a bill that passed the Senate in 2006 but went nowhere in the House. He also was instrumental in 2007 legislation that Kennedy sponsored with then-Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and took shots from conservative activists while campaigning for president in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Hoping to keep momentum alive after Senate passage of the bill, McCain has campaigned for the legislation during the August congressional recess.

In an interview with The Republic, McCain said that if an immigration bill passes this year, it would rank among the most significant legislative achievements of his three-decade career on Capitol Hill, which includes his namesake 2002 campaign-finance law.

"It would certainly rank in the top five," said McCain. "Maybe in some ways the No. 1 most important, because I don't know of another issue that I've been working on for so long unsuccessfully."

Asked whether immigration would become part of his legacy, McCain said: "I haven't looked at it from that standpoint, but I think it's pretty obvious that it would be."

McCain will be 80 when he comes up for re-election in 2016.

'Reaching out'

Like McCain, Flake has been involved in immigration for years. But also as McCain did in his 2008 presidential and 2010 Senate primary race, Flake in his 2012 race pivoted to a tougher position on immigration that demanded a secure U.S.-Mexican border before proceeding with other changes such as a path to citizenship or a guest-worker program.

As part of the Gang of Eight, both have returned to favoring a comprehensive approach.

Flake, who was raised on a ranch in Snowflake, Ariz., and now resides in Mesa, said his interest in improving the situation of immigrants stems from his youthful days hauling hay, mending fences and moving sprinkler pipe on alfalfa fields in northeastern Arizona.

"I grew up working alongside migrant labor, mostly from Mexico, undocumented," said Flake in an interview with The Republic. "I've seen what motivates people to come here, and I've seen how hard they work for a better life. I've never been able to place them all in a criminal class."

Flake has warned that GOP intransigence on immigration hurts the party with Latino voters at the national level and in Arizona, and eventually will make it difficult for Republicans to win statewide office.

"I've been pursuing this for a lot longer than that's been an issue at the forefront, but that's certainly the case," Flake said. "That's not the primary reason to pursue it, but it's certainly true we've got to do better reaching out."

'A fairy tale'

Bruce Merrill, a veteran political scientist and senior research fellow at Arizona State University's Morrison Institute for Public Policy, said national leadership roles on immigration could pay political dividends in different ways for the two senators.

The veteran McCain, for example, is interested in demonstrating that Congress can still solve problems, Merrill said. The 113th Congress, which has been unable to resolve standoffs over the budget and debt ceiling, is on track to be one of the least productive ever.

"He's genuinely concerned about the country, and he's genuinely concerned about this partisanship and gridlock that we have in Washington," Merrill said. "If they call him a 'maverick' for doing it, that's OK. I don't think he lays awake at night worrying about that stuff."

And while Flake has made mistakes, as most freshman senators do, his work on immigration indicates he has the makings of a hardworking, pragmatic lawmaker, Merrill said.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C., has a different perspective. His organization backs more enforcement and overall reductions in immigration and opposes McCain and Flake's bill.

In Krikorian's view, McCain appears motivated by a sense of "noblesse oblige" and a dogged determination to accomplish his immigration goal over the longtime opposition of his conservative critics.

Flake, according to Krikorian, is motivated by his libertarian-leaning views.

He said both senators are deluding themselves if they believe passing immigration changes would do much to improve Republicans' fortunes with Hispanic voters, who are philosophically oriented toward the Democrats. "I have no doubt he (Flake) thinks this is good for the party, although that's a fairy tale," Krikorian said.

Arizona impact

While McCain and Flake may reap political rewards from legislation's passage, they argue that Arizona stands to benefit far more from the increased border security, workplace-enforcement measures and pathway out of the shadows for undocumented immigrants that comprehensive change offers.

McCain and Flake's leadership also could help reverse negative impressions of their home state, which unleashed a political fury when Brewer signed SB 1070 in April 2010.

Having two Arizonans in the bipartisan Gang of Eight, which is working to find a solution, is helping shift those perceptions, Sharry of America's Voice said.

"SB 1070 cost Arizona quite a bit with respect to reputation," Sharry said. "If McCain and Flake lead the way to passing immigration reform, it's going to give Arizona a halo that it has long lacked when it comes to immigration."

WATCH ONLINE

What: "A Conversation on Immigration with John McCain and Jeff Flake"

Date: Tuesday, Aug. 27 in Mesa, Ariz.

Time: 1 p.m. ET

Who: Arizona Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake. Several KPNX-TV, Phoenix, personalities and USA TODAY immigration reporter Alan Gomez will participate. The event will be livestreamed on azcentral.com and usatoday.com.