US President George W. Bush kicked off a new effort on Monday to unite Republicans behind an overhaul of immigration laws. He emphasized the need to choke off the flow of illegal immigrants while trying to address conservatives' concerns about his plan to grant temporary legal status to millions of illegal workers already in the US.
On the first of two days of appearances in two border states, Arizona and Texas, Bush tried to stake out a middle ground on an issue that has divided Republicans, saying the nation did not have to choose between upholding its immigration laws and being compassionate to the millions of workers who travel here desperate to make a living.
His emphasis was unmistakably on the elements that most concern conservatives in his party. They are demanding more forceful steps to hold back the waves of people who flow across the southern border and are deeply opposed to anything that smacks of amnesty for people who have entered illegally.
"Illegal immigration's a serious challenge," Bush said, flanked by two black Border Patrol helicopters in a hangar at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. "And our responsibility is clear. We are going to protect the border."
Initiatives
Bush listed initiatives that he said were helping, including returning illegal immigrants from Mexico to their hometowns rather than simply sending them back across the border and moving to end the practice of releasing illegal immigrants in the US in the expectation, usually dashed, that they will appear for court hearings.
He approvingly cited programs to build walls and fences in some areas, spoke of how technology was helping catch people sneaking across the border and pushed budget increases he has supported.
He cast his original proposal for a temporary guest-worker program as a safety valve that would reduce illegal immigration and sought to ease concerns among some conservatives that it would amount to amnesty for lawbreakers.
Unrealistic
His plan would let millions of illegal immigrants obtain legal status for a fixed but as yet undetermined period, but would then require them to return to their home countries, a provision that many immigration experts say is unworkable and unrealistic.
"We're going to secure the border by catching those who enter illegally and hardening the border to prevent illegal crossings," Bush said.
"We're going to strengthen enforcement of our immigration laws within our country. And together with Congress, we're going to create a temporary worker program that'll take pressure off the border, bring workers from out of the shadows and reject amnesty," he said.
He signaled that he would oppose any effort to limit changes in immigration policy to an increase in border security.
In doing so, he suggested that the White House prefers the approach being taken by Senate Republican leaders who have promised to develop a broad approach to immigration and border security to that being taken by House Republican leaders who plan to bring up a bill just on border security in the coming weeks.
In the audience were the two Arizona senators, both Republicans, John McCain, who has been a co-sponsor of a plan to give participants in the guest-worker program a path to citizenship, and Jon Kyl, who has been a co-sponsor of a bill to deny temporary workers a path to citizenship.
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