A promise made to help win approval of an intelligence reorganization bill may open a window for Congress to take comprehensive action on immigration, Sen. John McCain said Dec. 13.

“Immigration reform is vitally needed, but we have to have comprehensive immigration reform, which includes a guest work program and also includes some form of addressing somewhere between 8 (million) and 13 million — according to estimates — people who are here in this country illegally,’’ Mr. McCain said during an interview.

The opportunity to consider comprehensive legislation could come in early 2005 when legislation is considered that would prohibit states from giving driver licenses to illegal immigrants, the Arizona Republican said.

Some House Republicans balked at having Congress approve the intelligence bill because it didn’t prohibit states from giving driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants.

That opposition was lessened when House Speaker Dennis Hastert, a Republican from Illinois, promised consideration of the license prohibition in early 2005.

“That will bring up the issue again and I think then we could make an argument that we need to look at all the other aspects of illegal immigration as well as just simply the issue of a driver’s license,’’ he said.

Guest Worker Program

Saying that border enforcement is essential but not enough, Mr. McCain wants authorization of a guest-worker program to address what he called a root cause of illegal immigration.

“As long as there is a demand, there will be a supply and as long as long there are jobs that Americans won’t do, there will be a supply of workers who will come from someplace else to do them,’’ Mr. McCain said.

President Bush has proposed letting immigrants get renewable three-year labor visas to work in jobs that aren’t filled by American workers. His plan wouldn’t provide automatic citizenship for workers.

Even though immigrants provide the American economy with cheap labor, border states shoulder health care and education costs for illegal workers and their families.

While illegal immigration has heavily impacted Arizona and other border states, the issue is a national concern, Mr. McCain said.

More than any other state in recent years, Arizona has been dogged by a stream of illegal immigrants after the government tightened enforcement in El Paso, Texas, and San Diego during the mid-1990s.

It’s impossible to estimate how many illegal immigrants slip into the United States. Still, Arizona ranked first among the four Southwestern states in apprehensions of illegal immigrants, with about 580,000 in the last year.

Hundreds of illegal immigrants die each year from exposure to extreme weather, dehydration and accidents along the border. Until recently, smuggling-related violence was on the rise in Phoenix, a hub for transporting illegal workers. —