Bush vows he will insist on guest worker program

By Steve Holland and Matt Spetalnick

CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) – U.S. President George W. Bush
warned at the end of a North American summit on Friday that an
immigration plan being debated by the U.S. Congress must
include a guest worker program for illegal immigrants.

The so-called three amigos — Bush, Mexican President
Vicente Fox and new Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper —
wrapped up their talks by vowing to work together on border
security, avian flu and energy issues. But deep differences
remained.

A U.S. plan that will require Canadians and Mexicans to
carry a passport or passport-type document to cross the U.S.
border was a cause of concern for Harper, a newly elected
conservative whose appearance at this sun-soaked beach resort
was one of his first forays on the international stage.

“We’re obviously concerned that if we don’t move quickly
and properly on this, that this could have effects on trade and
movement of people, conventions, you name it, that is not
helpful to our economy or to our relationship,” Harper said.

Bush said he thought the dispute could be worked out in a
way that facilitates travel. “I believe this can be done in
such a way that it makes future travel, future relations
stronger, not weaker,” he said.

FIERCE DEBATE

Overshadowing the two-day summit was America’s increasingly
fierce debate over the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants,
more than half from Mexico, living in the United States.

Bush, fighting a slump in the polls, is arguing against
some of his fellow conservatives who want immigration
legislation to focus solely on border security, without a guest
worker program that would allow the illegals a temporary legal
status while performing unskilled jobs that Americans are not
willing to do for the rock-bottom wages being offered.

Asked if he would veto legislation that does not include
the guest worker program, Bush stopped short of such a threat,
but insisted that he wanted more than just more border security
controls as some Republicans prefer.

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

He cautioned both Fox and Harper to let the debate play
itself out in Washington, saying he hoped it would be a civil
one that “does not pit neighbor against neighbor.”

Mexicans once had high hopes for Bush, who took office
promising to make America’s southern neighbor a priority but
pushing the issue to a back burner after the September 11
attacks.

In the waning months of his presidency, Fox is seeing the
possibility that his long struggle for a change in U.S.
immigration policy could finally bear fruit, sought to aid Bush
in his political battle at home.

He said Mexico was doing its part to crack down on human
smugglers along the U.S.-Mexican border and trying to halt the
flow of Central American migrants coming across Mexico’s
southern border.

“With all due respect to the dignity of these people,
respecting their human rights, they are stopped, they remain on
temporary basis in the stations. We offer them services with
dignity. And then we send them back to their communities of
origin,” Fox said.

The summit was a kind of last lap for Fox, whose country is
in the heat of a campaign to determine his successor. Both Bush
and Harper vowed to steer clear of involvement in Mexico’s
domestic politics and Fox seemed to bask in the attention.

Unlike many of Bush’s visits abroad, there were few
protests in Cancun, an expensive strip of hotels and fast food
stores far from large Mexican cities.

Members of the Mexican navy patrolled in large
black-painted beach buggies while Canadian and American
delegates took morning dips in the cobalt blue sea.

(Additional reporting by Randall Palmer, Greg Brosnan and
Lorraine Orlandi)