BNA Daily Labor Report
Friday, February 4, 2005

Immigration
With Some Exceptions, Bush's Statement
On Guestworker Proposal Draws Applause

 

By Fawn H. Johnson 

President Bush's call for a new guestworker program in his Feb. 2 State of
the Union address met with approval from some lawmakers, business leaders,
and advocates of increased immigration into the United States, but labor
leaders said the administration needs to provide more information.

"It is time for an immigration policy that permits temporary guestworkers to
fill jobs Americans will not take, that rejects amnesty, that tells us who
is entering and leaving our country, and that closes the border to drug
dealers and terrorists," Bush said in his speech. "We should not be content
with laws that punish hardworking people who want only to provide for their
families, and deny businesses willing workers, and invite chaos at our
borders."

Bush has made similar statements in recent weeks, reiterating his commitment
to push this year for major changes to current immigration law, including a
new, uncapped guestworker program.

Bush unveiled his immigration proposal a year ago, calling for an unlimited
guestworker program under which both undocumented workers currently working
illegally in the United States and foreign workers seeking employment could
obtain three-year work visas that could be renewed at least once (4 DLR
AA-1, 1/8/04) . Undocumented workers who obtain temporary visas under the
program would not be precluded from seeking green cards through normal
channels, but they would not be guaranteed permanent legal status.


Lawmakers React

Lawmakers involved in the immigration issue greeted Bush's statement as a
chance to move legislation. "President Bush is clearly committed to
reforming our country's failed immigration policy, and I'm hopeful that the
push that the President is able to give to the issue will compel Congress to
act," said Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) in a statement. Last year, Flake
sponsored a bill (H.R. 2899), designed around Bush's goals, that would have
created two new guestworker programs, one for foreigners coming into the
United States, and one for undocumented workers currently in the country.

Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.), who sponsored the same bill with Flake, said he is
encouraged by Bush's statement. "I hope that in the weeks to come the
president will share a clear vision with the nation of how this reform might
be crafted and accomplished," he said.

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), who is working with Sen. John McCain
(R-Ariz.) on a broad immigration bill, said in a statement, "I look forward
to working with the President to put his words into action, specifically on
making our immigration laws more fair."

But Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), who staunchly opposes any immigration into
the United States, said Bush's statement sent the wrong message about
protecting American borders. "When the President tries to make us believe
that open borders equals national security he loses all credibility," he
said. By making proposals to open the border, Tancredo said Bush is favoring
"economic interests of corporations addicted to cheap labor ahead of the
safety of American men, women and children."


Bipartisanship Needed, Labor Says

Labor representatives told BNA they were pleased with Bush's statement, but
they feel his guestworker proposal lacks detail and a tone of
bipartisanship. "I wanted to hear that it needs to be done in a bipartisan
way. I wanted to hear that it has to be comprehensive," said Service
Employees International Union Vice President Eliseo Medina, who heads a
coalition of labor, immigrant, Hispanic, and other nonprofit organizations
that lobby for increased immigration into the United States.

Medina told BNA that he is happy that Bush said current immigration laws are
outdated and that immigrants generally are not a threat to society. "He
said, 'People are coming here, that they're working hard to make a better
life.' "

But, Medina added, "Simply saying [we need] a guestworker program will not
solve the problem." Undocumented workers who have lived in the country for
many years are unlikely to sign up for a temporary visa program that could
eventually result in their deportation, he said.

Marc Grossman, a spokesman for the United Farm Workers of America, said UFW
was encouraged by Bush's statement "He's saying the right things. ...He
speaks well of immigrant workers."

"But he's never really offered more details" about his immigration plan,
Grossman said. "It's really hard to say exactly what he talked about."

Grossman said Bush has made no moves toward endorsing a smaller bipartisan
bill, dubbed "AgJobs," that, among other things, would provide legal status
for some 500,000 undocumented farmworkers already working in the United
States. When Bush speaks of reform, he said, "We hope to define what that
means for farmworkers, and that's the AgJobs bill," he said.

Last year, administration officials quietly stopped a Senate vote on the
AgJobs bill, arguing that it "guarantees amnesty" for some undocumented
workers, a principle that Bush does not support (138 DLR A-2, 7/20/04) .


Speech Ties Immigration to Security

Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, a group
that supports increased immigration, said he is most heartened by Bush's
statement because it links his proposed guestworker program to national
security. "He's finally communicating that the only way to get control of
our borders is to reform our immigration laws," he said. "The way he talks
about it now is going to move the debate forward."

Sharry said Bush, as a conservative Republican, is "a surprising champion"
of expanding immigration, which makes him an unusual ally in NIF's push to
open borders and give undocumented workers an opportunity to earn legal
status in the United States.

"On the short list of the legislative priorities, the fact that the very
divisive and controversial issue of immigration made it, that's not
insignificant," Sharry said.


Position Fits Business Needs

The business community said Bush's statement fits in with its goals of
having access to a larger labor pool. "It was about what I expected," said
International Franchise Association Government Affairs Vice President John
Gay, adding that he would have been surprised if the issue got more than a
brief mention in a speech largely devoted to Social Security and foreign
policy.

IFA, an association of some 1,000 franchise companies, favors Bush's call
for a broad new guestworker program because it would give businesses access
to so-called "essential workers" (i.e., those willing to work in low-skill
jobs that are difficult to fill with Americans). In order to make such a
guestworker program actually work, Gay said, it would have to provide some
path to legalization for undocumented workers. "But that type of
comprehensive immigration [plan] can fit in the president's principles," he
said.

In a statement, National Restaurant Association President Steven Anderson
said, "The administration's guestworker plan recognizes the need for
meaningful common-sense solutions to our current immigration system."