GOP aims to block immigration reform

WASHINGTON -- President Bush's plan to liberalize the nation's immigration laws to allow millions of undocumented workers the opportunity for legal status appears to be on a collision course with newly aroused sentiment among House Republicans pushing for a crackdown on illegal immigration.

Bush describes his immigration proposal as one of the top goals of his second term, calling it a humane way to get a handle on the nation's mushrooming illegal immigration problem. Republican strategists, led by White House chief political adviser Karl Rove, also see the proposal as an important element in their plan to expand the party's base among the nation's fast-growing Hispanic population.

The key prong in Bush's plan is a temporary-worker program that would offer the nation's estimated 10 million illegal immigrants a chance to earn legal status that would allow them to stay in the country as long as six years.

Once they register as temporary workers, they would be eligible to begin the long process of applying for citizenship or permanent residency.

"It's a compassionate way to treat people who come to our country. It recognizes the reality of the world in which we live," Bush said during a news conference last week. "There are some people -- there are some jobs in America that Americans won't do and others are willing to do."

But an increasingly vocal group of House Republicans is threatening to undercut Bush's vision, which the president has discussed with passion but has not formally advanced since taking office in 2001.

Many House Republicans oppose any effort to grant legal status to undocumented workers, saying it would have the effect of rewarding law-breakers. Instead, they are seeking to ratchet up enforcement efforts against undocumented workers, an approach with proven voter appeal if unproven results when it comes to slowing illegal immigration.

When the new Congress commences this month, key House Republicans are promising to push legislation to complete a controversial fence along the Mexican border near San Diego, to make it tougher for immigrants to attain asylum and to prevent illegal immigrants from receiving driver's licenses. At the insistence of Judiciary Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., R-Wis. -- and with the White House's approval -- Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., has promised to attach those measures "to the first must-pass legislation" that moves in the House next month.

Earlier this month, House Republicans wrested a pledge from Bush to cooperate in enacting tougher immigration provisions by blocking legislation to restructure the nation's intelligence community. The intelligence bill passed only after Bush promised to "work with" House Republicans to enact those measures.

Bush's concession meant that Congress will begin the year on an anti-immigration note, which promises to continue as many of those pushing for the tough enforcement measures also are likely to oppose the president's "guest worker" plan.

"I'm no longer the only person in the caucus bringing the issue of illegal immigration to the American people," said Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., who heads the House's 71-member Immigration Reform Caucus, which has a section on its Web site listing crimes, health problems and other problems it says are caused by illegal immigrants. "Now others appear to be willing to go to the mat on it."

How the White House plans to reconcile its stated desire for a temporary-worker program with its pledge to toughen immigration laws is unclear, although some supporters of Bush's plan say the two goals are not incompatible. Backers of a guest-worker plan argue that there is no way to effectively crack down on undocumented workers, given the ineffectiveness of the nation's immigration laws. The new program, they said, would create incentives for people to enter the country legally.

Efforts to hold employers accountable for hiring illegal immigrants have been largely frustrated by a booming industry in forged documents. Attempts to stem the tide by building a fence and beefing up patrols along the southwestern border have only shifted much of the flow of illegal immigrants east from California, often to the rugged Arizona desert.

Hundreds of would-be illegal immigrants have died attempting to make the perilous journey across the southwestern border, even as an estimated 1 million illegal immigrants make it into the country each year.

Many supporters say a temporary-worker program would enhance national security by identifying who is in the country; by boosting the economy with a continuing supply of highly motivated, low-skill workers; and by helping undocumented workers avoid exploitation by granting them the protections that come with legal status. The workers, meanwhile, would be free to return to their home countries, allowing them to stay connected with their families.

"The idea is to make the system respond to the fact that we have an integrated labor market that interacts with Mexico and Central America," said Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, an immigrants' rights group. "You are trying to transform it from a black market, chaotic, hard-to-control flow to a more orderly, regulated flow."

Still, tougher enforcement provisions are popular among voters, particularly in areas where residents feel overwhelmed by illegal immigrants.

Is this for real?
"It wont take long to track them down, put them on a bus and send them home. Make sure we charge their Home Country for their tickets home too along with any medical and food bills! If the Mother and/or father is illegal, the child is illegal. Regardless if they were born on US soil or not"
It is a nightmare to even try to contemplate processing 10 million people through the current immigration courts. The advantage I see to the guest worker program is that it starts by registering aliens and their employers. Take an unrealistic hard line, if you want. The devil is in the details of enforcement, and that will require local, state, and federal cooperation which is now lacking.

The best indicator of the status of a nation is the rise or fall of it's middle class. Illegal immigration is not going to do anything to prosper the middle class. The upper class will reap the benefits of this "cheap labor" but there will be little of the profit passed on to the consumer. We need to make the President and Congress know that we are well aware of what is at stake here!!!

It's about time they start cooperating. Court system? For what? If they are illegal aliens, cannot produce proof of citizenship, or a vise to the Police or Immigration Officials they are on the bus.

Maybe we should send Bush a hearing aid, because it's obvious he's not listening to the people who put him into office TWICE!!!!

One reason why the illegal alien problem is mushrooming is because the Boosh administration is holding out to border jumpers the tantalizing promise of a partial amnesty.

Current POLL~~!!!!
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/lou.dobbs.tonight/

What do you believe should be the top priority for Congress this year?

Immigration reform 30% 741 votes

Social Security reform 4% 90 votes

Trade/outsourcing 36% 882 votes

Federal deficit 31% 753 votes

Total: 2466 votes

Watch. If this legislation passes it will probably be the first veto Bush uses.

It is really sad when your only option is to punish your party for leaving the gate open by voting for the oppostion in the next election. It is however "leverage". One way or another the gate will be open. Punish the party in power when the issue is not dealt with. I only wish now that the issue would have been brought to a "head" prior to the election.

Agreed, sadly but wholeheartedly.

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