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President
Bush Pushes Overhaul of Immigration Law |
Posted:
04.11.07
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President Bush traveled to Yuma, Ariz., Monday to inspect border
security measures and outline his new plan for immigration reform.
Speaking to a group of U.S. Border Patrol agents, he urged Congress
to consider a guest worker program and resolve the legal status
of the estimated 12 million undocumented people currently living
in the country.
Printer-friendly version: PDF
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 Mr.
Bush has long been in favor of comprehensive immigration reform
-- a law that addresses the country's immigration situation as
a whole, rather than dealing with border security, visa, and citizenship
issues separately.
Last year, he supported a Senate bill that would have increased
border security while giving illegal immigrants a path to citizenship
without leaving the country, provided that they learned English,
paid back taxes, and had worked in the country for many years.
Republicans in the House of Representatives criticized this plan,
calling it "amnesty," and eventually convinced Mr. Bush
to sign a bill that addressed only border security.
Since then, the president has called this "enforcement only"
measure a first step toward overhauling the country's immigration
policy.
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Policing
the border |
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While in Yuma, President Bush touted a program aimed at stopping
illegal immigration across the 2,100-mile U.S.-Mexico border.
In the last nine months, 6,000 National Guard troops have been
deployed to California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to stem
illegal crossings, as part of a program called Operation Jumpstart.
The number of Border Patrol agents has increased, too. Since
last April, 4,000 new officers have been hired, bringing the total
to 13,000. By year's end, that number will rise to 18,000.
 Government
officials also are building barricades and using a number of new
surveillance technologies -- from skyboxes to portable watchtowers
and even unmanned aircraft -- to deter crossings.
The measures, Mr. Bush claimed, have been working. In the last
six months, the number of people caught illegally crossing into
the United States from Mexico fell from 594,142 to 418,184 --
or 30 percent -- from the same period a year earlier. In his speech,
the president reasoned that if fewer people were being caught,
fewer were trying to cross.
Immigration experts, however, say this assessment fails to take
into account other factors which affect the number of border crossings,
such as economic conditions in Mexico and Central America and
the frequency with which illegal immigrants return to their homes.
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Comprehensive
immigration reform |
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After praising the new border security measures, Mr. Bush cautioned
that those measures alone would not solve the country's immigration
problem.
In addition to continued security, he called for a new immigration
law that would include ways for employers to verify the legal
status of the people they hire and a way for undocumented workers
already living in the country attain legal status.
Though lawmakers have still not finalized a bill, the president
is likely to support a plan allowing illegal immigrants to apply
for a work visa that would cost $3,500 to renew every three years.
To apply for citizenship, illegal immigrants would first have
to return to their home country and file paperwork at the U.S.
consulate. There, they would have to get in line behind everyone
else waiting for citizenship, then face an additional $10,000
penalty.
By advocating this "touchback" approach, the president
hopes to avoid the claims that he is offering amnesty to the estimated
12 million illegal immigrants already in the United States, while
offering an alternative to mass deportation.
 Critics
of these measures have called the penalties too steep and naturalization
process too long to be attractive to the millions of undocumented
workers already living in the country.
Over the weekend, thousands marched in Los Angeles, saying that
these new measures were a "betrayal by Mr. Bush" after
last year's proposal to give illegal immigrants a path to citizenship.
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Political
roadblocks |
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Given these contentious points, overhauling the country's immigration
law may be difficult for President Bush, especially as he continues
to spar with Congress over funding for the war in Iraq.
One of the chief architects of last year's Senate immigration
bill, Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said no measure would be approved
unless it had "strong Republican support," the New York
Times reported.
The prospects for this support now seem uncertain. Some Republicans
have said they will not approve a measure that gives illegal immigrants
work visas or a path to citizenship.
 And
Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., a high-profile Republican who last
year supported the president's plan, is now leaning farther right,
as he tries to woo conservative votes in the Republican Party's
presidential primary.
Despite these roadblocks, Mr. Bush remained optimistic in his
speech, saying, "I've been working to bring Republicans and
Democrats together to resolve outstanding issues so that Congress
can pass a comprehensive bill and I can sign it into law this
year."
The Senate plans to start debating an immigration bill in May.
--Compiled
by Noah Buhayar for NewsHour Extra
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I think we've been witnessing violence for years, whether in reality through the media or through video games, and I don't think that's a first-hand effect.
