Thread: Bush Chides Party Members on Immigration

http://www.nytimes.com

June 2, 2006
Bush Chides Party Members on Immigration
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
WASHINGTON, June 1 — Beginning a public relations offensive intended to prod divided Congressional Republicans into overhauling the nation's immigration laws, President Bush rebuked conservative opponents of his plan on Thursday and warned that there is "no excuse" for delay.

With Congress set to return to Washington on Monday after a one-week recess, some Republicans have suggested they may fare better at the polls in November if the House and Senate wait until after Election Day to reconcile their vastly different immigration bills.

But Mr. Bush made clear in a speech at the United States Chamber of Commerce that he did not want Congress to wait. Next week, the president will take his case for what he calls "comprehensive immigration reform" on the road, with appearances in New Mexico and Nebraska.

"The House and Senate bill will require effort and compromise on both sides," Mr. Bush told a friendly audience gathered at the chamber's headquarters, across the street from the White House. "It's a difficult task. Yet the difficulty of this task is no excuse for avoiding it."

Whether Mr. Bush can bring his party's warring factions together remains to be seen. On one side are conservatives who support the House bill, which declares illegal immigrants felons and would have them deported. On the other are those, like the president, who prefer the Senate version, which would open the way for many of the estimated 11 million people living in the United States illegally to become citizens.

In his speech, Mr. Bush took aim at House members who brand the Senate bill amnesty, though he did not mention any by name. "Some members of Congress argue that no one who came to this illegally should be allowed to continue living and working in our country," he said. The lawmakers are "are acting on deeply felt principles," he said, but added, "I also believe that the approach they suggest is wrong and unrealistic."

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepubli ... g0602.html

President urges Congress to discuss migrant reform

Mike Madden
Republic Washington Bureau
Jun. 2, 2006 12:00 AM

WASHINGTON - President Bush urged Congress on Thursday to begin negotiations over two very different immigration-reform bills, keeping pressure on lawmakers to act on a longtime priority of his.

"It's a difficult task. Yet the difficulty of this task is no excuse for avoiding it," Bush said during a speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce headquarters.



The Senate passed a broad reform measure last week that would let millions of undocumented immigrants get legal status and establish new temporary visas for foreigners to come to the United States to work.

Late last year the House passed a bill that focuses only on border security. Reconciling the proposals in an election year will be hard.

Both chambers must agree on a bill before it can be sent to the president to sign into law.

Immigration threatens to split the Republican Party, with conservatives outraged over administration support for the Senate bill. Opponents say it gives amnesty to people who came here illegally.

"You appreciate the great contributions immigrants have made to America's freedom and prosperity, and you know their importance for the future of this nation," Bush said at the Chamber of Commerce.

"And so you're helping this country reach consensus by conducting the debate on immigration in a reasoned and respectful tone. And I appreciate that a lot."

The politically influential, GOP-allied business group has joined labor unions, churches and civil rights organizations to support broad reforms such as those in the Senate bill.

Bush focused part of his remarks on the need for the federal government to set up databases so employers can check whether their workers are in the country legally and to increase fines for employers who break the rules.

Though each bill includes some work-site verification systems, the final rules likely are to be written during House-Senate negotiations, lobbyists and activists said.

But as Bush seeks to persuade conservatives to support broad reforms, his administration has emphasized ways the government already is carrying out existing laws in an attempt to undercut criticism that the new proposal will fail for lack of enforcement.



Reach the reporter at mmadden@gannett.com or 1-(202)-906-8123.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... J6JLC1.DTL

Bush urges compromise on immigration bill
He backs Senate on legalization but not on temporary work
- Carolyn Lochhead, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Friday, June 2, 2006


Washington -- President Bush appealed Thursday to lawmakers to tackle House and Senate negotiations on a comprehensive immigration bill, saying the difficulty of finding a compromise is no excuse for avoiding it.

Speaking to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and backed by an array of his administration's top immigration officials, Bush set out the parameters of what he'd like to see in the final version of the bill.

While the president said he believes, as the Senate does, that illegal immigrants who have put down roots in the country should be able to gain citizenship, he insisted that any new guest worker program for future migrants be temporary only -- a position at odds with the Senate, which would grant new temporary workers a chance at eventual citizenship.

"Temporary workers must return to their homes at the conclusion of their stay," Bush said.

Bush will travel next week to New Mexico, Texas and Nebraska as part of a full-bore White House pitch on immigration overhaul -- a political gamble that could tear apart Republicans as they head into a difficult mid-term election.

More conservative Republicans, particularly House lawmakers, have pushed for tighter border security and opposed any citizenship option for illegal immigrants. Other Republicans, including the president and some senators, argue the immigration issue can't be resolved without acknowledging that an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants now in the country must be given some avenue to remain here legally.

The president also fears that too tough a stance will alienate Latino voters and produce a reaction as occurred more than a decade ago in California when California Latinos turned away from the GOP after the party supported Proposition 187, an anti-illegal-immigrant measure.

Bush issued a direct challenge to House Republicans who have denounced as amnesty the gigantic bill passed by the Senate.

"Some members of Congress argue that no one who came to this country illegally should be allowed to continue living and working in our country, and that any plan to allow them to stay equals amnesty, no matter how many conditions we impose," Bush said. "Listen, I appreciate the members that are acting on deeply felt principles. I understand that. Yet I also believe that the approach they suggest is wrong and unrealistic."

The left is also beginning to splinter, with several immigrant rights groups peeling off from the bipartisan coalition that supported the Senate bill, arguing that its delicate compromises to win passage have gone too far.

"The Senate has mandated nearly 2 million deportations and expects nearly 3 million people to travel to any border city from Montana to Michigan to New York in order to fill out paperwork, get a new job with a 'qualified guest worker employer,' waive many civil rights, agree to travel back and forth between their home country and the United States within three years and pay large fines," said Deepak Bhargava, executive director of the Center for Community Change, part of an alliance of groups backing immigration reform.

The Senate legislation would offer a path to legalization to illegal immigrants who have been in the country longer than two years, create a new guest worker program for unskilled workers, impose a new system of worksite enforcement and toughen the border, among other things. It would also greatly expand skilled worker visas such as the H1B, used heavily by the Silicon Valley computer industry. The government announced Thursday that the 2007 quota for H1B visas has been filled, four months before the start of the next fiscal year, prompting industry calls for action on the Senate bill.

The House bill by Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., offers no new avenues for legal immigration, and instead aims solely at toughening the border with Mexico, including a 700-mile wall. Like the Senate bill, it would create a new system of worksite enforcement.

Bush endorsed many of these proposals during Thursday's speech -- including stiff fines on employers who hire illegal workers and a new identification card with digital fingerprints for every foreign worker. But he said tougher border controls alone will fail.

"The comprehensive bill must honor the great American tradition of the melting pot, which made us one nation out of many peoples," Bush said. "In all the emotions, we forget we are a land of immigrants. The success of this country has depended and will depend upon helping newcomers assimilate into our society and help folks embrace our common identity as Americans."

The head of the agency that would handle any new legalization program said Wednesday that he had little formal contact from Capitol Hill as the two chambers worked through their bills.

"The Hill's been working pretty much independently," said Emilio Gonzalez, head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which handles 7 million applications a year for visas, green cards, naturalization, asylum and refugee status.

Gonzalez, a blunt-spoken former director for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the National Security Council and a naturalized citizen, said the Senate bill has unreasonably short timetables.

"If we have to line up and register 12 million people in 90 days while continuing our day job, do the math," Gonzalez said. Documents to determine eligibility for any new legalization programs are a key concern, he said.

E-mail Carolyn Lochhead at clochhead@sfchronicle.com.

http://www.dallasnews.com

Bush urges deal on migrant bill
'No excuse' for inaction, he says, urging House, Senate to compromise


07:13 AM CDT on Friday, June 2, 2006
By G. ROBERT HILLMAN / The Dallas Morning News


WASHINGTON – President Bush, prodding a bitterly divided Congress, urged the House and Senate on Thursday to give ground as they seek to reconcile their daunting differences on immigration.

Mr. Bush set no deadline for action. But he said there was "no excuse" for failing to move on a compromise immigration bill. He also made clear he would continue campaigning for a comprehensive package that includes a temporary worker program and eventual path to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.

"The American people expect us to meet our responsibility and deliver immigration reform that fixes the problems of the current system, that upholds our ideals and provides a fair and practical way forward," he said.

Mr. Bush, who addressed the nation on immigration in a rare prime-time Oval Office address May 15, will continue follow-up appearances next week with stops Tuesday in New Mexico and Texas.

He went to Arizona last month after calling for up to 6,000 National Guardsmen over the next two years to help seal the U.S. border with Mexico. And he acknowledged again on Thursday, in a nod to conservatives in his own Republican Party: "We don't have full control of this border. And I'm determined to change that."

On Wednesday, Mr. Bush will again speak on immigration in Nebraska, the home state of Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, one of the principal sponsors of the comprehensive Senate measure.

"One of the best ways to get his message out and also hear from the American people is to get outside the Beltway," deputy White House press secretary Dana Perino said.

Back on Capitol Hill, compromise will be not be easy, Mr. Bush acknowledged, noting the wide gulf between the House bill that heavily emphasizes border security and the just-passed Senate bill that could position most of the nation's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants toward citizenship.

While a House-Senate conference committee has yet to be named, the White House has noted that some congressional leaders want to send a bill to the president before this November's midterm elections.

But deep divisions – not only between Republicans and Democrats, but also among Republicans – will undoubtedly slow the process. And there is a sense in some political quarters that any reconciliation of the issue will be pushed after the elections to a lame-duck congressional session at the end of the year, if at all.

In the meantime, Democrats are particularly eager to exploit Republican divisions.

"The president needs to stand up to the right wing of his party and insist that the anti-immigrant and un-American elements included in the House bill are rejected from any final legislation voted on by Congress," said Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean.

"If the president fails to do so," Dr. Dean said, "he only has himself, his administration and the Republican-led Congress to blame for failing to enact tough and smart immigration reform, which is what the American people expect."

Some congressional conservatives, including Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., and Rep. Tom Delay, R-Sugar Land, have suggested the bare essentials of a compromise: tougher border security and other enforcement measures paired with a temporary worker program that would stop short of citizenship.

In the House, Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., the Judiciary Committee chairman who is expected to be the House's lead immigration negotiator, has flatly dismissed any notion of legalizing illegal immigrants. The Senate plan is amnesty, he said. "Amnesty is wrong because amnesty rewards someone for illegal behavior."

Any deal that seeks to bring House Republicans aboard risks failure in the Senate, where Democrats intent on a legalization plan could stall any compromise with parliamentary maneuvers. Mr. Bush's ability even to draw together divergent elements of his own Republican Party is hampered by his low standing in the polls, driven down in large part by public angst over the war in Iraq.

The president addressed immigration Thursday in a speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which he praised for its support of the sort of comprehensive immigration overhaul that he favors.

An earned route to citizenship – where illegal immigrants would pay a fine and any back taxes, learn English, then still go to the back of the naturalization line – is not amnesty, Mr. Bush said, but rather a "rational middle ground" approach to a persistent and complicated problem.

Nonetheless, he had some tough words for business, large and small.

"Businesses that knowingly employ illegal workers undermine this law and undermine the spirit of America," he said. "And we're not going to tolerate it in this country."

Staff writer Michelle Mittelstadt contributed to this report.

E-mail bhillman@dallasnews.com

This jackass still doesn't get it. With his poll numbers still advancing southward and the American electorate becoming more frustrated and irate by the day he still doesn't understand what Americans, as his employers are demanding from this defacto Mexican administration. Mr Vincente Bush, how difficult is it to listen to your constituents; that is the American people and NOT the Mexican people? Surely for someone who has an MBA (probably bought from the same organization that produces fraudulent documents for illegal aliens) that shouldn't be too difficult, or shall we look for a 5th grader to provide advice, but then that child may prove to be too academically challenging to you.

1. Iraq mess
2. Immigration mess
3. New Orleans still unprepared for 2006 hurricane season
4. "Loss" of my and other veterans data to drug cartels and illegal aliens
5. Just being jackasses and wastes of taxpayer dollars

IMVESTIGATE AND IMPEACH BUSH NOW!!!!!!!

THE SENATE: The most corrupt institution money can buy!!!!!!!

mrmiata7 - Bush gets it all right. He just does not want to listen.

He has another agenda and he is going to ignore us hoping we will go away like a pesky fly.

I have been trying to figure out if he thought that we would just roll over and take it. Let's face many citizens have been sleeping for many years not paying attention to what the government has been up to, many of us are sleeping still.

I think he grossly underestimated the American Spirit and did not count on those of us who are paying attention being so vocal in trying to wake up those of us who are still sleeping. And we are changing things, have no doubt. Every day there are more and more stories of citizens raising a fuss over illegals. They might really have to go into the shadows if the momentum keeps up like it has.

While the president said he believes, as the Senate does, that illegal immigrants who have put down roots in the country should be able to gain citizenship, he insisted that any new guest worker program for future migrants be temporary only -- a position at odds with the Senate, which would grant new temporary workers a chance at eventual citizenship.

this isn't about what the President or the Senate "believes" - this is about what the American people want -- NO AMNESTY

"The comprehensive bill must honor the great American tradition of the melting pot, which made us one nation out of many peoples," Bush said. "In all the emotions, we forget we are a land of immigrants. The success of this country has depended and will depend upon helping newcomers assimilate into our society and help folks embrace our common identity as Americans."

the oath of office is to "preserve, protect and defend" the Constitution and faithfully execute the laws -- including immigration laws, NOT the tradition of the "melting pot." What the President wants the American people to forget is the Constitution and the rule of law

"The president needs to stand up to the right wing of his party and insist that the anti-immigrant and un-American elements included in the House bill are rejected from any final legislation voted on by Congress," said Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean.

what is the difference between a tyrant that is a king and a tyrant that dictates to the elect of the people? either they do the will of the people or they are the servants of the president