Bush Continues Push for Guest Worker Program

CANCUN, Mexico _ Acknowledging that the U.S. legislative process appears at times “a little unpleasant,” President Bush pushed ahead Friday with his proposal for a temporary immigrant worker program but stopped short of pledging to veto legislation without it.

“You’re presuming there won’t be a comprehensive bill,” Bush told a reporter who pressed him on a possible veto. “I believe there will be a comprehensive bill.”

So, he said, his answer to the veto question was, “No answer.”

Immigration has been a thorny issue between Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox, who hosted a two-day North American summit that included the new Canadian prime minister, Stephen Harper.

Another thorny issue is the looming Jan. 1, 2008, deadline to implement the new U.S. requirement for a passport, or other unspecified “secure” document, to enter or re-enter the United States from Canada and Mexico.

Harper and Fox, along with business leaders, have voiced their concerns, Bush told a Canadian correspondent who raised the issue during a joint news conference at the close of the summit.

Bush pledged that his administration would work closely with the neighboring governments to set standards for some sort of high-tech document that would facilitate, not hinder, border travel and trade. But he indicated no changes in the new requirement. “I intend to enforce the law,” he said.

Harper, however, warned that if the issue were not addressed quickly the new requirement would cause problems that would not be “helpful to our economy or to relationships.”

The three leaders met Friday to review the Security and Prosperity Partnership they forged a year go at a similar summit in Texas and to plan for a third meeting next year in Canada. But the backdrop of their talks was clearly the increasingly acrimonious debate over immigration in Congress and on the streets of large cities across the country.

The House already has approved a tough border-protection measure that would make illegal immigration a felony and build more fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border. But the Senate is considering more moderate measures, including a temporary guest worker program similar to Bush’s proposal.

It’s unclear, though, how the issues might be reconciled by the two chambers, if the Senate finally approves a bill.

In any case, Bush and his top aides are preparing for a long battle that may not be settled until after this November’s mid-term elections, if at all.

“We’re making progress,” Bush said he told Fox, who has long sought a process in the United States to legalize millions of Mexican immigrants and to provide an orderly flow across borders.

But, quoting “some wag,” he allowed that making U.S. law can be a lot like “watching people make sausage.”

It “probably appears a little unpleasant from your perspective,” Bush told Fox, who smiled broadly.

Earlier, Fox reiterated his position in his opening remarks: “Migration can only be solved in that we agree upon under the framework of a legislation that will guarantee a legal, ordered, safe and respectful migration, respecting the rights of people.”

Bush also praised Fox for Mexico’s newly publicized commitment to share responsibility for increasing security at its borders and taking other measures to stem illegal immigration and other border crime. It’s an important message, Bush suggested, at a critical time in the new immigration debate.

For Bush, the term “comprehensive bill” has come to mean a multi-faceted immigration overhaul that would tighten border security, crack down on employers who hire illegal immigrants, and establish a new temporary worker program.

“It is important to bring people out of the shadows of American society so they don’t have to fear the life they live,” Bush said.

Overall, the president was much more upbeat about the prospect of changing U.S. immigration law than he was a year ago, when he said during a similar summit in Waco, Texas, that he could not promise that Congress would move soon on the issue.

“You’ve got my pledge, I’ll continue working on it,” Bush told Fox then. “You don’t have my pledge that Congress will act, because I’m not a member of the legislative branch.”

On Friday, Bush reiterated that he believed Congress would finally send him the sort of immigration overhaul he’s been seeking.

“I want a comprehensive bill,” he said. “I’ve made that very clear to the members of Congress, and I will continue making it clear to members of Congress.”

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(c) 2006, The Dallas Morning News.

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