Bush Seeks Tougher Immigration Policy, Temporary Worker Program
President Bush urged Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform legislation to help secure the U.S. border from illegal immigrants and called for a temporary worker program that would allow some immigrants to work openly in the United States for a fixed period of time.
Speaking November 28 in Tucson, Arizona, Bush said the United States “has always been a compassionate nation that values the newcomer and takes great pride in our immigrant heritage,” but he said illegal immigrants were violating U.S. law.
“The American people should not have to choose between a welcoming society and a lawful society. We can have both at the same time,” he said.
The president urged that a new temporary worker program be established that would allow some immigrants to register to work legally for a fixed period of time before returning home. Such a measure, he said, would reduce pressure on the border and “bring workers from out of the shadows.”
But, he said, the program “would not create an automatic path to citizenship,” and would not provide amnesty to those who have illegally entered the United States.
“This program would help meet the demands of a growing economy, and it would allow honest workers to provide for their families while respecting the law,” he said.
According to press reports, approximately 11 million illegal immigrants currently are living and working in the United States.
Illegal immigration presents a “serious challenge,” Bush said, because it puts pressure on schools and hospitals and strains law enforcement and emergency service resources. The president also said some smugglers and gangs who have brought immigrants across the border “also bring crime to our neighborhoods and danger to the highways.”
The president outlined a three-part plan to reform U.S. border and immigration practices. Bush called for an expansion of efforts quickly to repatriate illegal immigrants to their home countries, including expediting the legal process and increasing the capacity of detention facilities.
He also called upon Congress to “correct weak and unnecessary provisions in our immigration laws,” such as those that have required some illegal immigrants to be released if their home countries do not take them back within a certain period of time, and others that permit endless litigation, which has overly burdened federal courts, Bush said.
The president also called for an increase in personnel and technology along the U.S. border “to stop people from crossing the border illegally in the first place.”
Bush said that, by the end of 2006, he will have increased the number of border patrol personnel to 12,500, an increase of more than 30 percent from the time he took office.
He also called for better worksite enforcement, saying, “American businesses have an obligation to abide by the law, and our government has the responsibility to help them do so.”
