Immigration drive kicks into high gear

Last week, Chertoff took skeptical members of Congress on a helicopter tour of the southern U.S. border to promote the administration's stepped-up enforcement measures.

They gave chase to illegal immigrants, and at one stop the lawmakers picked up a welder and -- with a spray of sparks -- helped build the solid-steel barrier rising along parts of the border with Mexico.

Today, Chertoff launches a higher-profile effort to win enough votes to pass a comprehensive overhaul when he testifies at the first Capitol Hill hearing on immigration legislation since Democrats took over.

Chertoff's campaign has impressed some lawmakers who may be crucial to the fate of his effort, but it's not clear whether they have been swayed enough to support it.

"It's remarkable how much progress they are making," said Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), a staunch opponent of the administration's immigration policies who visited the border with Chertoff. But the trip "reaffirms to me that what we tried to do last year was right -- that is, delineate the need for security and require its completion first."

The campaign comes as the White House is working hard to sell its domestic legislative priorities to Democrats. An immigration overhaul is one area where President Bush's agenda closely matches that of the Democratic leadership.

In addition to confronting stubborn opposition, the administration is contending with a tight schedule and volatile politics. Bush has two years left to cement his legacy, but presidential campaign politics will make complicated legislation difficult to tackle.

"I think we've made a lot of progress on the border, but we need to address all the elements of the problem," Chertoff told reporters Tuesday. "We want to work with Congress. That's the whole point of being in government -- to get stuff done."

Chertoff will testify with Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez, who has accompanied him on Capitol Hill to promote Bush's vision for legislation that would bolster border security and workplace enforcement, create a program to allow for guest workers, and give most of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S. a path to citizenship.