EL PASO TIMES

March 6, 2006

Districts' migrant numbers
sway vote on tough bill

Louie Gilot
El Paso Times

Lawmakers who represent districts with fewer undocumented immigrants tended to vote for a tough immigration reform bill last year, while those in districts with large immigrant populations opposed it, a recent study found.

Researchers at the Immigration Policy Center, a Washington, D.C., immigrants' advocate center, broke down the vote on H.R. 4437, "The Border Protection, Anti-Terrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act," passed by the House of Representatives in December. The bill included the controversial provision for the construction of a 700-mile double fence along the U.S.-Mexico border.

U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, opposed the bill.

The research found that 67 percent of all representatives who supported the bill came from districts with an undocumented population of less than 15,000, while 62 percent of the representatives who opposed the bill had 15,000 or more undocumented immigrants in their district.

Researchers used figures from the 2000 U.S. Census and the Pew Hispanic Center.

"There is a lack of understanding when it comes to immigration and a failure to recognize the contribution of immigrants. The ones that do understand are the ones directly impacted, like on the border," said Saul Soto, administrator of the Border Network for Human Rights in El Paso.

The bill passed largely along party lines, with 203 out of 232 Republicans and 36 out of 203 Democrats supporting the bill. But the legislators also wanted to look "tough" on immigration, the study's author, Rob Paral, wrote.

Only 5 percent of representatives from congressional districts with 50,000 or more undocumented immigrants supported the House bill, or three representatives out of 61. All three were Republicans. Those districts are largely rural and located in sections of Appalachia, the Midwest, and the Mississippi Valley, the study showed.