Immigration issue livens GOP primary

PROVO — Whether they like it or not, Rep. Chris Cannon and Matt Throckmorton, Cannon's opponent in next month's Republican primary, will have to grapple with immigration issues.

And actually, both candidates for the 3rd Congressional District seat like it.

Cannon, R-Utah, is the national point man on immigration reform, and Throckmorton benefits from ads created by national groups attacking Cannon for a bill he's sponsoring that they feel is akin to amnesty for illegal immigrants.

A new round of radio ads from a group of those organizations, the Coalition for the Future American Worker, began running this week, just days before a federal deadline for third-party advertising.

The ads accuse Cannon of advocating amnesty and link a past amnesty bill to the bombing of the World Trade Center.

Paid for by the coalition, the ads remind listeners that two of the bombers were illegal immigrants but don't explicitly mention that the bombing in question took place in 1993, three years before Cannon was elected to Congress.

Cannon had nothing to do with the 1986 amnesty bill, either, his campaign spokeswoman said. "He would have voted against that bill," Meghan Riding said. "He was then, and he's very clear now that he's still against amnesty."

She strongly criticized the ads for the vague tie to the bombers.

"They're disgusting," she said.

The deadline for third-party ads before the June 22 primary comes this weekend, 30 days before voters go to the polls.

Cannon immediately countered with his own ads, decrying the way the bill is portrayed by the coalition's messages. He wants to hammer home his idea that the bill is meant to reform immigration and reinforce national security. The bill would provide temporary legal status for illegal immigrants with American agricultural jobs, thereby providing workers for U.S. farmers and providing the government with a list of the immigrants and where they are.

Workers who followed stringent guidelines could earn citizenship status after several years, Riding said.

But Throckmorton would prefer to beef up border security and attempt to stem the tide of immigrants altogether, and Cannon's call for immigration reform has made him a national target for some special-interest groups who agree with Throckmorton.