US President George W. Bush called on Monday for a temporary worker program that would employ millions of undocumented immigrants, seal porous US borders and slap stiff sanctions on employers who knowingly hire illegal workers.
"We got a lot of people sneaking across the border to do jobs," Bush said.
"Doesn't it make sense to have a rational, temporary worker plan that says you don't need to sneak across the border?" he said.
"You can come on a temporary basis to do a job Americans won't do," Bush said during a speech in Irvine, which has a large population of legal and illegal immigrants.
Bush also called for a "tamper-proof card" for each immigrant who meets set criteria, ensuring that employers can distinguish between migrants who are permitted to work in the US and those who are not.
Immigration has risen to the top of the US political agenda, with Congress back from a two-week holiday after having failed last month to pass an immigration reform bill.
Bush's proposals seemed to reflect a mood on Capitol Hill where lawmakers came back on Monday from their Easter recess supporting tougher immigration controls than the ones they had been mulling shortly before the break, in line with a broad swath of the US public.
Most national polls show that a vast majority of Americans want the government to do more to slow the immigrant influx.
On Monday Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy said Bush's plan was one his party could sign on to.
"Democrats are united behind reform that includes strong border security and worksite enforcement, a path to earned citizenship for undocumented workers that are already here, and a realistic guest worker program for the future," he said in a statement.
Even Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton, who just a few weeks ago decried crackdowns on illegals as un-Christian, has hardened her position somewhat since checking in with constituents in her home state of New York.
In a newspaper interview last week, Clinton said she now favors a wall or fence, and possibly surveillance drones and infrared cameras, along the US' southern border.
Just last month, Clinton slammed a house bill with similar provisions, saying the bill "would literally criminalize the good Samaritan, and probably even Jesus himself."
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