The Republican presidential candidate John McCain is facing a dilemma. He cannot afford to lose conservative votes and, at the same time, he can't afford to turn his back on the Latino community either; however, he needs to take a stand on immigration issues. The issue of amnesty and legalizing the stay of over 10 million people in some way was the subject of a very heated debate last year and the year before. A group of congressmen and senators – with the Arizona senator McCain among them – presented an amnesty project.

Unforgivable betrayal

Although the McCain-Kennedy Bill – the legislation project named after its two main sponsors in the Senate – was eventually rejected by the Congress, the conservative part of the electorate never forgave McCain for his support for amnesty, and even more so for his alliance with the liberal Massachusetts Democrat Ted Kennedy. Conservative political commentators also turned their backs on McCain and considered him a traitor and a crypto-Democrat.

Now, however, the senator is saying that the security of the United States and safe borders are the most important issue. If he didn’t take this stand he would lose the support of many voters opposing amnesty. As last year's debate showed, the majority of U.S. citizens, Democrats included, are against illegal immigration and even more so against rewarding it with citizenship. There is a lot at stake for McCain here. If he takes a stand against amnesty, he will lose a part of his Latino electorate. One way or another he needs to resolve the dilemma.

A big silence

"McCain is now talking about law enforcement, which among the Latino community members equals deportation, breaking families up and identity checks," said Cecilia Munoz of the Latino organization National Council of La Raza.

In 2006, McCain angered many Republicans by his alliance with Democrats to carry out the amnesty program. Even President Bush’s support for the project didn’t help and the proposal was rejected. Now, as the Republican presidential candidate, he is distancing himself from the idea of amnesty. He didn't bring up the issue during his campaign speeches, similarly to the Democrats. The subject, which was so hot last year, is now unpopular and controversial. The candidates have spoken about it very little not to upset anyone.

The proper order of things

McCain is now talking about border security. The issue is very important to the conservative electorate, who believes that amnesty cannot be discussed before the issue of border security is resolved. The failed McCain-Kennedy bill looked to legalize immigrants first and secure borders later. The argument against it was that if amnesty was granted, the borders would never be secured. With McCain’s new order of things, the problem of illegal immigration will have to be dealt with somehow, later.