Arizona Sen. John McCain, back in his home state, said Tuesday he's not sure where immigration reform falls among President-elect Barack Obama's priorities.
Speaking with the Tucson Citizen's editorial board, McCain, who lost the election to Obama last month and will be returning to the Senate, with plans to seek another term in 2010, said the new president will be setting the nation's legislative agenda. Obama's top agenda rightly will be the economy and jobs, he said.
McCain, who sponsored comprehensive immigration reform legislation that failed twice, said it remains an issue that needs addressing.
But he said Americans need to be assured first that the nation's borders are secured.
Another, related issue is concern over whether Mexico's government can win its bloody fight with violent drug cartels, McCain said.
McCain said he doesn't know what Obama's position as president will be on immigration reform, but that as a senator, the president-elect proposed amendments that would have killed the temporary worker program.
McCain said labor unions did not want a temporary worker program.
McCain said he hasn't changed his opinion.
"These are God's children, and there has to be a humane and compassionate approach to this issue," he said, though any criminals must be put behind bars or deported, and tamperproof, biometrics documents for temporary workers also must be part of the mix.
The country is making progress toward securing its borders, McCain said.
"I do note with interest that there are still tunnels; I do note with some interest that still 40 percent of the people who are here illegally didn't cross the border illegally, they had visas that expired and they stayed. So it calls out for comprehensive addressing of the issue."
Securing the border can entail virtual fences as well as "walls," he said.
But a big problem is Mexico's struggle to try to control its side of the border, the senator said.
"They're in an existential struggle for the very heart and soul of their country. The drug cartels are a threat to the very existence of Mexico as a nation."
Noting scores of killings in Nogales, Sonora, and corruption at the highest levels of government, he said, "We have to really worry about the drug cartels, and that influence and sometimes corruption doesn't just stop on that side of the border."
The cartels are reacting so violently to Mexican authority -- in addition to fighting among themselves for control of trafficking corridors -- because Mexican President Felipe Calderon is serious in his challenge to them, McCain said. "His predecessors haven't been."
