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Bush tries balancing act on illegal immigration

Posted on: Monday, 28 November 2005, 18:05 CST

By Patricia Wilson

TUCSON, Arizona (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Monday tried to balance differences in his own Republican Party over illegal immigration by rejecting amnesty and calling for a hardened Mexico border but also vowing the United States would remain "a welcoming society."

Fueled by fears of terrorists slipping into the country, escalating violence and drug smuggling, Americans have become increasingly worried about illegal immigration. More than three-quarters think the government is not doing enough to control the borders, according to a CBS News poll last month.

At Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Bush portrayed his proposed temporary worker program -- which many Republicans say rewards lawbreakers and provides "backdoor amnesty" -- as a way to relieve pressure on enforcement by bringing illegal immigrants "out of the shadows."

"There's a lot of opinions on this proposal. I understand that," Bush said. "The program that I proposed would not create an automatic path to citizenship. It wouldn't provide amnesty. I opposed amnesty."

But the United States, he said, had always been "a compassionate nation that values the newcomer" and "the American people should not have to choose between a welcoming society and a legal society."

On enforcement, he pledged to harden the border with increased manpower and new technology including unmanned aerial surveillance. He proposed returning illegals to hometowns in Mexico's interior and adding capacity to detention facilities.

Bush has a fine line to walk between playing to the demands of his conservative base for tougher enforcement and the Republican Party's desire to court the votes of Hispanics, the fastest-growing minority in the United States.

The issue is expected to play a major role in congressional elections in many states next year.

His guest worker proposal offers the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States the chance to register and work -- mostly at low-skilled jobs Americans don't want -- for up to six years. They must then return to their home countries for a year to apply for a new work permit.

BOOST TO THE ECONOMY?

Bush said it would create incentives for legal immigration, serve national security interests by identifying who was in the country and provide a boost to the economy. Republican critics prefer to crack down on illegal immigration with beefed up border patrols, the military and fences.

"Enforcement alone doesn't work," Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said in a letter to Bush. He called on the president to "stand up to the right wing of your party and stand up for what is right."

The U.S. House of Representatives plans to take up the immigration issue soon but has scheduled action only on border security, leaving the temporary worker program for a later date. The Senate will consider more comprehensive reform in February.

Each year, more than 1 million undocumented migrants try to slip across the rivers and deserts on the 2,000 mile U.S.-Mexico border in search of work in the United States.

Almost half come through Arizona and hundreds die attempting the dangerous trip.

The problem reached such epic proportions in the summer that Arizona and New Mexico declared states of emergency, saying tens of thousands of illegals were endangering border security. That allowed the governors to use millions of federal dollars to shore up their borders.

Angry residents have formed armed teams called Minutemen to watch over the border and a movement has sprung up among conservatives to wall off its entire length with a high-tech fence. More than two dozen members of the U.S. Congress have signed on to the idea.

Source: REUTERS

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