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View Full Version : Bush tries balancing act on illegal immigration


Ambrosio Spinola
11-29-2005, 08:46 AM
Temporary permits? LOL, yeah, sure they will all leave once those visas expire. :rolleyes:

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/8ccae058-6079-11da-a3a6-0000779e2340.html

President George W. Bush opened an end-of-the-year push on immigration reform on Monday, calling on Congress to act on the politically divisive legislation while seeking to calm conservative fears about his plan to create a guest worker programme.


“Rewarding those who have broken the law would encourage others to break the law and keep pressure on our border,” Mr Bush said in Tucson, Arizona, on the first day of a two-day trip to border states to highlight his immigration proposals.

Mr Bush called for strengthened border security, improved enforcement of immigration laws within the US, and the creation of a temporary worker programme that would allow foreign workers to register for legal status for a fixed period and then require them to return home.

“Together with Congress, we are going to create a temporary worker programme that is going to take pressure off the borders, bring workers out of the shadows,” Mr Bush said.

The president has been pushing his guest worker programme since his re-election last year, and several business groups support such a proposal. But many Republican leaders in Congress have focused instead on tightening border security and objected to any programme that could be seen as rewarding those who have entered the US illegally.

Mr Bush said his temporary worker proposal “would not create an automatic path to citizenship. It wouldn’t provide for amnesty”.

But he also acknowledged the divided opinions on the topic and lent support to congressional efforts to move ahead quickly with legislation to strengthen border security.

With the failure of Mr Bush’s plan for Social Security reform and weak public opinion ratings for the White House and Congress, Republican leaders have put border control legislation near the top of their agenda – a move party strategists hope will persuade voters that the Republican majority is pursuing core party goals.

House leaders plan to take action in December, while Bill Frist, the Senate majority leader, said yesterday the Senate would address border security legislation in February.

Jon Kyl, a Republican senator from Arizona who has opposed any suggestion of an amnesty for illegal immigrants, applauded Mr Bush’s assurance that any guest worker programme would be temporary.

But Harry Reid, Democratic leader in the Senate, called on the president to “stand up to the right wing of your party” and reject immigration reforms based solely on enforcement.

Leif
11-29-2005, 05:31 PM
G.W. is doing what he's always done on this issue, talk. It's doesn't matter if he proposes temporary worker permits, or total amnesty, or whatever, because he has not even attempted to establish control on the border. What does it matter if they are here "legally" or "illegally" if there is no difference in government action in both cases.

Legal immigrant- works, sends money home, lives in USA, has papers that establish his legality
Illegal immigrant- works, sends money home, lives in USA

The first time G.W. mentioned an amnesty program, or a temporary worker program, floods of immigrants began pouring through, hoping to get in before the amnesty deadline. Point being, if theres nobody to stop them from coming in anyways...why bother funding these programs and initiatives if the conditions would remain the same?