By CARRIE BUDOFF BROWN

A Republican rout in November would usher in a class of Senate freshmen who ran on pledges of no amnesty for illegal immigrants — a changing of the guard that could doom President Barack Obama’s already faint chances of passing a comprehensive immigration reform bill in his first term.

Immigration reform advocates could see turnover in 17 seats held by Democrats and Republicans who, at one point, voted for a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, according to a POLITICO analysis of the Senate campaign field. In all cases, the Republicans running for those seats have vowed to never support a legalization program or at least not consider it until the border has been certified secure.

This means the Democratic vision of immigration reform, which couples tough border enforcement and a crackdown on employers with plans to legalize 11 million undocumented immigrants, would need to shift much further to the right to stand any chance in a closely divided Senate.

“The prospects for victory of comprehensive immigration reform are slim,” said Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice, an immigrant advocacy group.

If predictions for a broad Democratic defeat in the midterm elections prove accurate, immigration advocates could start out in January with as few as 30 senators on their side. A total of 73 senators backed a key test vote on immigration reform in 2006, but that coalition shrank to 46 when a similar bill came up in 2007. The Senate is the battleground on immigration because a bill would originate there, where 60 votes are needed to pass anything controversial.

The outlook for immigration reform turned gloomy last month when Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) became the third senator to lose this year among those who once supported a legalization program.

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Immigrant rights groups on Monday demanded that President Obama impose a full moratorium on deportations of illegal immigrants, arguing that his policies have been worse for their cause than those of his Republican predecessor.

Saying they’ve been “betrayed” by and lost patience with Mr. Obama, the advocates suggested that the president could regain their support by leading a fight on Capitol Hill for a bill to legalize illegal immigrants. Mr. Obama took the first step toward legalization during a meeting Monday at the White House with two lawmakers working on a bill.

But a bill could take months to pass. In the meantime, the immigrant rights groups say, Mr. Obama must end deportations altogether.

“We demand an immediate stop to all deportations, because each one of these deportations, each one of these numbers, equals a life destroyed and a family devastated,” Angelica Sala, executive director of the Coalition for Human Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, said at a news conference in Washington.

The government reported 387,790 deportations in fiscal 2009, which spanned the last few months of the George W. Bush administration and more than eight months of the Obama administration. That marked a small increase over fiscal 2008, when deportations totaled 369,221.

The Obama administration insists that its enforcement policies target unscrupulous employers and stop abusive practices that target illegal immigrants.

“This administration is focused on smart, effective immigration enforcement that focuses first on those dangerous criminal aliens who present the greatest risk to the security of our communities, not sweeps or raids to target undocumented immigrants indiscriminately,” said Homeland Security Department spokesman Matt Chandler.

Legalization versus enforcement has driven tense debate for years.

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