US: Republicans fear protests, particularly by Hispanics, over immigration laws, writes Denis Staunton. Yesterday's mass demonstrations and boycott in the US sent a powerful message to Congress about the debate on immigration, but they were also an impressive display of political power by Hispanics, America's biggest minority group.
Immigrant groups were divided over tactics yesterday, as some called on undocumented workers to ignore the boycott and just show up for demonstrations. All agreed, however, on the importance of a voter-registration drive that began yesterday and aims to add hundreds of thousands of new Hispanic voters to the register before November's congressional elections.
Democrats are relishing the discomfort of Republicans, who are deeply divided over immigration and risk losing the support of Hispanic voters carefully cultivated by president George Bush and his political adviser Karl Rove over the past decade.
Hispanics, mostly Catholic or evangelical Protestant, tend to be conservative, opposing abortion and gay rights and often favouring free-market economic policies and flexible labour markets. However, unlike more established immigrant groups many Hispanic US citizens have family members who are illegal immigrants and they see Republican-backed proposals for a crackdown on illegal workers as an attack on their community.
Some Republicans fear their stance on immigration could alienate Hispanic voters for a generation, just as the party lost the Catholic vote a century ago.
Republican lawmakers are torn on the issue because opposition to illegal immigration is much stronger among their supporters than among Democrats. Some Republicans reported last week that immigration is the single most important issue identified by their voters, and they fear that failure to pass tough legislation to secure the border could cause core conservative supporters to stay at home in November.
Mr Bush's unpopularity, the difficulties faced by the military campaign in Iraq and a string of scandals have given Democrats a good chance of recapturing the House of Representatives in November.
For Republicans, the price of mobilising their core voters could be the loss of the fastest-growing group of future voters.
Some immigrant groups, including the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform, opposed yesterday's boycott as counterproductive and provocative. Others fear that factories, farms, shops and restaurants that closed yesterday may have exposed themselves to immigration officials who have recently launched a crackdown on illegal labour.
House of Representatives majority whip Roy Blunt, a Republican who wants tougher border security before legislators consider offering illegal immigrants a path to citizenship, said mass demonstrations were encouraging anti-immigrant hardliners.
"I think they're hardening positions. It just convinces the people we work for that the problem is bigger than they knew," he said.
Senate leaders are confident they can revive a Bill that would allow most illegal immigrants to remain in the US and embark on a path to earned citizenship. If the Senate agrees such a measure, both houses of Congress must then find a further compromise before any measure becomes law.
Republicans in the House remain highly critical of allowing illegal immigrants stay in the US, dismissing the Senate proposal as an amnesty.
Mr Bush last week promised senators that he would use his influence with House Republicans to ensure that a final compromise includes a path to citizenship, but some of his congressional allies have made clear that they are in no mood to listen to the president.
For the protesters, yesterday's demonstrations will not be the last and, at a rally at Malcolm X Park in Washington yesterday, activists were already handing out fliers for their next event on May 19th.