PALM BEACH POST February 13, 2005 Bush guest worker plan provokes sharply split opinionsPalm Beach Post-Cox News Service WASHINGTON — President Bush again is pushing a plan that could grant temporary work permits to millions of illegal workers, giving immigration advocates new hope that it will become law. "It is time for an immigration policy that permits temporary guest workers 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 Feb. 2 in his State of the Union address.
But the plan still faces serious obstacles, including strong opposition from a group of about 70 House conservatives led by Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., who has called it a "pig with lipstick." Bush plugged his plan in last year's State of the Union address as well, but it went nowhere in Congress. Some observers say upcoming political battles on Social Security and tax reform could sap enthusiasm for the guest worker plan again this year. Still, immigrant advocates, Hispanic groups, lawmakers and business organizations say they are cautiously optimistic that a legalization plan could win approval. "If we do this right, it should be historic," said Cecilia Munoz, vice president of the National Council of La Raza, a large and influential Hispanic civil rights group. "You can see the coalition that's prepared to support it," she said. "The religious community of multiple denominations, a variety of ethnic constituencies in the United States, the civil rights community, the business community and the labor community.... The only people keeping this from happening are people doing the fear-mongering." Biggest change since '86 The illegal immigrant population is estimated at 8 million to 10 million, mostly from Mexico and other Latin American countries. Of those, at least 6 million are believed to be employed, many in hotels, restaurants, landscaping, construction, domestic work and agriculture. The guest worker plan that Bush outlined last year would be the most dramatic change in immigration policy since 1986. It would give illegal immigrants already in the United States one chance to register for legal permission to work for up to six years, after which they would have to return to their home country. Companies would have to prove that the jobs offered to the foreign workers could not be filled by Americans. Bush says the plan would improve national security by creating an orderly immigration process that identifies people working in this country and letting border enforcement agents focus on finding drug traffickers and possible terrorists. But Tancredo and other House conservatives — including Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee — are staunchly opposed to any measure that would give legal status to immigrants who broke the law by sneaking into the United States. "The minute you do that, you have created amnesty," said Tancredo. In addition, he said, Bush's plan would be unfair to millions of people who are waiting to enter the country legally. "We shouldn't tell them they're all suckers," he said. The House members are trying to crack down on illegal immigration. A Sensenbrenner bill that would tighten asylum laws and bar states from granting driver licenses to illegal aliens is passed the House on Thursday. They claim popular support, citing opinion polls showing that Americans are increasingly concerned about illegal immigration and want the government to stem the flow. And in a nod to their power, backers of Bush's bill shun the word amnesty, talking instead of "legalization" or "regularization." The Senate, which has been historically more sympathetic to immigration amnesty proposals, is considered an easier sell for Bush's guest worker plan. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a strong Bush ally on the issue, is working on immigration legislation. In addition, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, is planning to reintroduce a measure similar to Bush's plan. Green Gard backlog an issue Immigrant advocates are waiting for actual legislation before declaring their full support. "The devil is buried very deep in the detail," said Daryl Buffenstein, a former general counsel of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Buffenstein said any immigration reform package must be comprehensive and address the backlog of people waiting years for the "green cards" showing they are legal residents. In addition, Munoz said any plan would have to include some path to permanent legal residency for the temporary workers. Bush has said that his plan would not amount to "instant citizenship," but has offered few details of whether temporary workers would have a special track to permanent residency. Alcy De Souza, owner of a Washington restaurant called the Grill from Ipanema, said a guest worker plan makes perfect sense. "These are jobs that Americans don't want to do and don't have to do," he said. "They have bigger goals, like going to college. I have never seen an American ask for a job as a dishwasher." De Souza is planning to open a second restaurant and expects to hire immigrants for nearly every position. He said a guest worker program could allow him to bring specialty cooks from different regions in Brazil to work at his restaurant for a few years, something not possible under current law. Mark Krikorian, president of the Center for Immigration Studies, a group favoring tighter immigration laws, says most guest workers will not want to return to their home countries. A guest worker plan "assumes that we can use the labor of people and then get rid of them. No guest worker program has ever succeeded in doing that anywhere in the world," he said. In addition, Krikorian said that Bush is risking a lot by pushing an immigration plan that is at odds with the majority of the Republican Party. "The president is emotionally committed to open immigration," he said. "He is projecting his feelings for his gardener and his cook to all immigrants." Bush's push for a guest-worker bill is likely to stir the controversy surrounding other visa programs. As businesses plead to expand them, opponents charge that Americans are being displaced. In December, Congress approved 20,000 additional work permits known as H1-B visas designed to allow skilled specialty workers, such as computer programers and nurses, to relieve U.S. labor shortages. It was the first increase since the cap was lowered from 195,000 to 65,000 in 2003 in an effort to favor unemployed U.S. technology workers. Harris Miller, president of the Information Technology Association of America, said that his group will be aggressively pushing for more visas after laying low for a few years after the dot-com bust. "The economy is recovering," he said. "The unemployment rate is still at a very reasonable level (and) companies are expanding again quite rapidly, so we need to have access to global talent."
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