Immigration Debate Dividing Republican Party
ZAHN: There was an amazing showdown today in a Maryland courtroom. What happened when the two snipers who terrorized the Washington, D.C., area a few years ago faced off against each other? Here is, though, what is happening at the moment. The U.N. is again urging Iran to return to talks with France, Britain and Germany over limiting its nuclear enrichment program. Iran walked away from those talks back in February. Senator John McCain is returning $20,000 in contributions from a very wealthy Texas family now under investigation because of offshore tax shelters. The Wiley (ph) family hosted a McCain fund-raiser last week in Dallas. And the president's fund-raising visit to Philadelphia triggered some excitement in the skies, a small plane that violated a Secret Service no-fly zone. But fighter jets were scrambled and the president's visit continued without incident. Tonight, supporters of immigration reform -- and that includes President Bush -- are on the eve, it appears, of a major victory. The U.S. Senate is in session as we speak, trying to wind up its debate on immigration reform. All day, a coalition of Democrats and Republicans has fought off challenges to a compromise that strengthens border security, and gives most of the 12 million illegal immigrants in this country a chance to stay. The senators are on track for a final vote tomorrow. But this fight still has a very long way to go. Immigration reform may end up looking very different or even die altogether. As chief national correspondent John King shows us, it's because of a very unusual split in the Republican Party.</s>JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There is the Senate view of the Republican Party's election-year challenge...</s>SEN. NORM COLEMAN (R), MINNESOTA: It's important that we get some things done here, get an immigration bill done.</s>KING: ... and the very different House view.</s>REP. ROY BLUNT (R-MS), HOUSE MAJORITY WHIP: Many of our members have come to me and said, we believe the House position is the best position between here and the November election.</s>KING: With the Senate poised to pass a major immigration bill that includes a path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants, the question for Republicans is whether to compromise...</s>SEN. BILL FRIST (R-TN), MAJORITY LEADER: We're on a glide path to complete the immigration bill, a comprehensive bill.</s>KING: ... or hold firm.</s>REP. STEVE CHABOT (R), OHIO: Anything that approaches amnesty is wrong, and I think they are going to have a hard time getting enough votes in the House to pass such a bill.</s>KING: For the second time in a week, Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove visited House Republicans, in search of a formula for compromise. And for the second time in a week, his upbeat assessment was not shared by most of those in the meeting.</s>REP. TOM DELAY (R), TEXAS: If the Senate or the president insist on an amnesty-type path to citizenship, it's a nonstarter, and you won't get a bill.</s>KING: More proof of a party divided over both immigration policy and immigration politics.</s>KING: One side worries, allowing those who broke the law to not only stay in the United States, but eventually get citizenship, would infuriate grassroots conservatives, critical to Republican chances this November.</s>NEIL NEWHOUSE, REPUBLICAN POLLSTER: The anger is so strong and the frustration is so strong on this issue that I -- you know, I don't -- I think, perhaps, the White House may have missed that -- that kind of intensity.</s>KING: The other side thinks the bigger long-term risk is an anti-immigrant tone that drives away the growing Latino vote.</s>GROVER NORQUIST, PRESIDENT, AMERICANS FOR TAX REFORM: This is why George W. Bush's presidency is not only important to the country, but important to the Republican Party, in making sure that the Republican Party continues to get 40, 50 percent of the Hispanic vote.</s>KING: The president's plan to send National Guard troops to the border was one step toward the tougher approach favored by the House. And the Senate embraced a few more steps, including new fencing and other border security measures, and tougher penalties on employers who hire illegal immigrants. But the guest-worker program, allowing those who enter the United States illegally to stay and get citizenship, remains the Republican fault line. The question now, whether a weakened president can somehow find a way to lead his divided party from confrontation to an immigration compromise. John King, CNN, Washington.</s>ZAHN: And even though the immigration debate is a long way from being settled, help will be arriving soon along the U.S.-Mexican border. Today, the head of the National Guard told Congress that the first wave of about 800 Guard troops will head to the border next week. Now, while Washington debates immigration, the president of Mexico is in Washington state tonight, very carefully trying to influence people's attitudes. Roughly half of the illegal immigrants now in the U.S. come from Mexico. But President Vicente Fox says that his country wants to be part of the immigration solution, and that a wall along the border simply won't help. Ed Lavandera filed this report from Salt Lake City, where President Fox delivered his message a little bit earlier this afternoon.</s>ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mexican President Vicente Fox stepped right into the immigration hornet's nest, walking past protesters before speaking to Utah lawmakers, where Fox called on the United States to adopt a more open-border policy.</s>VICENTE FOX, MEXICAN PRESIDENT: The government of Mexico has promoted the establishment of a new system that regulates the movement of people across, back and forth, our border in a manner which is legal, is safe, and it's orderly.</s>LAVANDERA: Fox acknowledges, his country needs to do a better job of creating economic opportunities in Mexico, but he warns against building walls along the border and only focusing on catching illegal immigrants, saying that won't solve the problem. Fox says the United States alone can't secure the border.</s>FOX: We are your partners in security against terrorism. We are your allies in the war on drugs and crime. Let us work together.</s>LAVANDERA: Even though, inside, Vicente Fox has found a friendly political audience here in Utah, outside, there's a vocal opposition following his every move.</s>LAVANDERA: Some say Utah is becoming a popular place for illegal immigrants to live, because it's a religious and compassionate state. Vicente Fox understands that and is making an emotional plea for Americans to remember the plight of poor families, only looking for a better way to live.</s>FOX: Mexico is proud of its people here, whose working spirit, moral and family values, contribute every day to the economy and to community of this great nation.</s>LAVANDERA (on camera): By humanizing the immigration issue, Vicente Fox and his supporters hope it will influence lawmakers in Washington to adopt immigration policy that will make it easier to Mexicans to work in the United States. But critics say emotion should be left out of the debate, that this is an issue of law and security. Ed Lavandera, CNN, Salt Lake City, Utah.</s>ZAHN: And the last stop on President Fox's U.S. visit is California. And, today, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger told reporters they will focus on three issues: trade, the environment, and border security. A fascinating study could have you looking at your dog with a whole new sense of respect. Can your four-legged friend actually smell cancer early enough to save your life? Also, one of the bravest little girls you will ever meet -- how did she gather evidence against the man who kidnapped her? How did she get away? How did she learn any of what she did to get away? You will find out shortly. But, in the meantime, we move on to number eight on our CNN.com countdown. NASA says its spacecraft Voyager 2 could reach the edge of the solar system within the next year. Voyager 2 was launched back in August of 1977. Number seven, a dramatic day in court at the sniper trial in Maryland, which we touched on a little bit earlier tonight. Accused killer John Muhammad, who is defending himself, questioned his accomplice, a man he called his son, Lee Boyd Malvo. Kathleen Koch has been in court all day long. She will have the very latest for us. We will also have numbers six and five on our list straight out of the break. Please stay with us.