Republican presidential hopeful John McCain says the focus on undocumented immigration during the Republican primary season has harmed his party’s image among Hispanics, The Associated Press reports.  Speaking to reporters in Phoenix on Cinco de Mayo, McCain said that Hispanic citizens want America ’s borders secured and undocumented immigrants to be treated humanely.

"I believe that the majority of Hispanics share our view that the border must be secured, and the border must be secured first.  But they also want us to have an attitude which I think most Americans do, that these are God’s children, and they must be taken care of, and the issue must be addressed in a human and compassionate fashion," McCain told reporters. 

At the press conference, McCain also addressed the comprehensive immigration bill he and Sen. Ted Kennedy introduced a year ago; the bill stalled in the Senate.  McCain said the bill failed because voters didn’t trust the government to handle the security side.  Since the bill’s failure, he has said his first priority would be to secure the border and require border state governors to certify that before turning his attention to a legalization program for the country’s undocumented immigrants.

According to The Washington Times, some immigration advocates say his enforcement-first approach is still too harsh.  "Anti-immigrant-light is no more acceptable than anti-immigrant," said Eliseo Medina, executive vice president of the Service Employees International Union, who added that the proper solution is to offer legal status across the board.  "Let’s legalize everybody, and then let’s figure out what we need to do to ensure we have a legal program going forward."

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Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton said last week that if elected president, she would not crack down on so-called undocumented immigrant "sanctuary cities."  During last week’s interview with FOX News’ Bill O’Reilly, Clinton was asked about the subject of sanctuary cities, to which she quickly responded, "No, I’m not going to target them.  I’m not," adding that she wants undocumented immigrants to feel safe reporting crimes.

On the larger issue of immigration, Sen. Clinton said federal immigration policy is "broken" and needs reform.  "I’m 100 percent in favor of tightening our border, of enforcing the laws against employers, of going after the kind of abuses that we see in the job market, of making it clear that we have got to figure out what we’re going to do with people," she said.