WASHINGTON — Of all the issues being discussed in all the gin joints all over the nation's capital, five-term U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon still wonders sometimes why he ever latched on to immigration.
"Painful" is one word he uses to describe his experience, which he said has evolved into personal attacks. "I have been called a liar, and worse," he said.
But as the 109th Congress shifts into full gear, Cannon, R-Utah, has again willingly stepped to the forefront of what is perhaps the second most volatile issue on the congressional agenda, behind Social Security reforms.
He is again co-sponsoring legislation that would create a guest-worker status for farm workers who have illegally entered the country, and he is working hand-in-glove with the White House on even more sweeping changes to immigration policy.
"My role is to keep the wheels on" the legislation, said Cannon, who began tackling immigration issues shortly after arriving in Congress in 1997. "I know the issue, and I have been the conservative leader on the issue for so long. I play a godfather kind of role here."
To his opponents, that makes him Public Enemy No. 1.
In a town known for being a political circus, the debate over immigration is quickly becoming a bizarre sideshow, with charges and countercharges flying back and forth, often predicated on leaps of faith, thin strands of logic and name-calling by both sides.
From the viewpoint of anti-immigration groups, Cannon is in the collective pocket of radical pro-immigration forces, which include the Chamber of Commerce and unions. He has been accused of improperly raising funds from special interests and even diverting money to his own use (the evidence gathered by opponents has been turned over to federal officials, but the status of the investigations could not be determined).
"It would be odd if Cannon were loudly championing policies opposed by eight out of 10 Americans simply to coax campaign contributions out of the cheap labor profiteers," said Craig Nelson, director of Project USA, one of the most persistent opponents of Cannon immigration efforts in Congress. "But to tell you the truth, I really don't know for sure why he continues."
Cannon insists the cacophony of anti-immigration groups is all being orchestrated by zero-population and negative-population advocates, some of them on the extreme edge, who want to see the nation's population reduced to 150 million from the current level of 300 million.
"They don't hate me because of my immigration policies, they hate me because I have eight kids," Cannon said. "Immigration is a sidebar issue compared to their fundamental philosophy."
Social Security
Cannon has been an unabashed supporter of legal immigration, and he doesn't care much for those who call him a liar and distort his record, which he insists has always been against amnesty and for tougher enforcement directed at those who flout immigration laws.
But he also has a soft spot for legal immigrants and the plight of illegal immigrants who are exploited and victimized. With family roots reaching into Colombia and Mexico, and his own experiences as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Guatemala, Cannon said he has witnessed the trials of immigrants his entire life and seen the problems associated with illegal immigration.
And he sees immigrants as a key to American economic vitality.
"Thank God for (legal) immigrants," Cannon said earlier this week at the unveiling of a new study by the National Foundation for American Policy, which showed that an increase in legal immigration could solve much of the Social Security shortfall problems in the years ahead because an influx of new, younger workers would be contributing.
And reducing legal immigration, as immigration opponents have advocated, would increase the deficit in the Social Security trust fund and harm the fund's ability to pay future retirees, Cannon said.
According to the study by Stuart Anderson, executive director of the organization, a moratorium on immigration would increase the size of the Social Security deficit by almost one-third, or $506 billion, over the next 50 years.
A 41 percent reduction in legal immigration, which was proposed in Congress in 1996, would have increased the deficit by 13 percent, or $212 billion over 50 years.
A 33 percent increase in legal immigration would increase revenues to Social Security by $169 billion and increase the value of the trust fund by $101 billion over 50 years.
'Come-and-go economy'
The study, conducted at the request of Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, is certain to add more fuel to the fire raging over immigration. Cannon's support for the foundation's study again puts him at the center of the debate.
"Cannon would've been right at home in the antebellum South, where it was well-known, of course, that slaves were a necessity, since picking cotton is a menial job white people won't do," Nelson said.
Nelson predicted the new version of Cannon's agricultural jobs bill will meet an inglorious demise, despite its endorsement by editorial pages across the country and a bipartisan chorus in the House and Senate.
Cannon, a co-sponsor of the bill, said it would grant temporary-worker status to the millions of illegal agricultural workers who are already working on farms throughout the United States but who are reluctant to return to their homes for fear they might not be able to come back to the United States. By being here illegally, they become sucked into illegal activities both as victims and perpetrators.
"We have created a shadow economy where they are pretending to be here legally," Cannon said. "We need an environment where people have jobs and have them legally. They have go back when the job ends, but they can come and go."
Cannon, whose supporters for the AgJobs bill include a diverse mix of lawmakers from Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass, to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., calls it a "come-and-go" economy. Those supporters have also been targeted by immigration opponents.
"Humans are not packaged goods," Nelson insists. "We can't just import them, consume them and then throw them away like we would a refrigerator.
"What Cannon is in essence saying here is that he wants to be sure he's . . . taken care of when he's old, but he's willing to stick the next generation with an even tougher choice of importing even more human labor units, or suffering a worse shortage than we face while having to take care of all the old immigrants who paid in far less to the system because of their menial status," he added.
Cannon said AgJobs is just one piece of a larger immigration policy that must be addressed in a post-9/11 environment. Borders must be tightened up and violators of U.S. immigration policy must be dealt with, he said.
But legal immigration is a good thing, said Cannon, who added he is working with the White House toward a much broader immigration reform package that deals with many different aspects of the issue. If that legislation were to fly, AgJobs would be wrapped into that package.
So could other immigration bills that have lingered before Congress, including provisions whereby children of illegal immigrants could avoid deportation if they were in college and met certain criteria.
"These are the smartest kids we want in our system," Cannon said.
Ongoing debate
Another idea recently endorsed by President Bush is to allow temporary workers to opt out of the Social Security taxes, since they aren't going to get benefits anyway, Cannon said.
But nothing on the immigration agenda includes amnesty for illegal immigrants, Cannon insists. "I'm against amnesty, always have been and always will be," he said.
"He's a liar, and we proved it," Nelson retorts, pointing to studies on his Project USA Web site.
"They can't name any specifics (because) every vote I have taken is pro-enforcement," Cannon said.
He points to his support this session for the Real ID Act, which makes it tougher for illegal immigrants to obtain drivers' licenses.
"I have reservations about the gradual move toward what could become a national ID card, but this legislation begins to address necessary efforts in enforcement," he said last week during floor debate on the bill, which passed the House.
Both sides trot out facts and figures to support their claims. And there is no evidence the tone of the debate will soften.
E-mail: spang@desnews.com