GOP Focus On Hispanics Complicates H-1B Bill Strategy

The GOP's full court press for the Hispanic vote this fall -- on display at the party's national convention last week -- appears to raise questions about congressional Republicans' strategy for the remainder of the legislative session on matters of concern to the Hispanic community.

Left undone when Congress adjourned for its August recess was a resolution of the political stalemate on legislation to increase H-1B visas, which would give a boost to the high tech community by swelling the ranks of skilled foreign professionals -- and which could provide a platform for items either beneficial or antagonistic to the Hispanic community.

Joined by the Hispanic Caucus and House and Senate Democratic leaders, the White House has urged Republicans to allow a vote on certain immigration provisions, either in the context of the H-1B bill or on an alternate vehicle.

Those provisions include giving some Central Americans and Haitians the same opportunity to apply for permanent residency previously given to Nicaraguans and Cubans, and allowing immigrants who began residing in the United States before 1986 a chance to remain here permanently.

House Republican leaders reportedly have been hesitant to allow votes on those measures, either out of concern that they would prove politically unpalatable, or because the debate could provide a forum for Democrats to attack Republicans on their immigration policies as they relate to Latinos.

Senate Democratic and GOP leaders just before the August break came close to working out a deal that would have allowed Democrats to offer the immigration provisions on legislation reauthorizing federal education programs, but that deal fell through.

There reportedly were concerns on both sides of the aisle about proceeding, although some observers insist that it was Senate GOP leaders who got cold feet, particularly on another immigration proposal proposed by Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, as an amendment to the education bill.

Hispanic groups such as the National Council of La Raza have assailed that measure -- which would make it easier for foreign agricultural workers to enter the country temporarily -- as an opportunity to exploit farm workers, the majority of whom are Hispanic.

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