Bilbray says U.S. needs guest-worker program

By: EDWARD SIFUENTES - Staff Writer

ESCONDIDO -- U.S. Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Solana Beach, said Thursday that he would support a guest-worker program similar to the Bracero Program that brought thousands of low-skilled laborers from Mexico starting in the 1940s and ending in the 1960s.

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The Bracero Program was widely criticized by human rights groups for abuses, but Bilbray said it created economic opportunities for poor Mexicans.

Bilbray said migrant workers should be allowed to come to work in the United States, but should not be able to become permanent residents, nor should their children born in the country be granted U.S. citizenship.


"The old Bracero program, with all its warts, did more to create a middle class in Latin America than anything else," Bilbray said.

In a two-hour discussion with members of the North County Times editorial board that concentrated primarily on immigration reform and the war in Iraq, Bilbray said he has looked into creating such a guest-worker proposal.

"I knew that eventually I would have to push through a true guest-worker program to show that what was being offered wasn't," he said. "It was an amnesty program."

Bilbray was elected to represent the 50th Congressional District, a swath of North County that stretches from Escondido south to Del Mar, on a platform of immigration enforcement.

In June, Bilbray was elected to temporarily fill the 50th District seat vacated by the imprisoned Randy "Duke" Cunningham, who was sentenced to federal prison for his role in a bribery scam. Bilbray was elected again in November to serve a full two-year term.

Among the more than 50 bills he has authored or signed on to, Bilbray has proposed switching to a two-year federal budget process, requiring employers to conduct employment eligibility verification, denying U.S. citizenship to children born here to illegal immigrant parents and building more fence along the U.S. border with Mexico.

In recent weeks, Congressional leaders have taken up the immigration reform debate that stalled last year.

The White House outlined a proposal that would give some illegal immigrants legal status and create a guest-worker program that would allow foreign workers in. But the plan would not give them an option to stay, nor would they be allowed to bring in their family, according to The Associated Press.

Bilbray said he liked the president's guest-worker proposal, but not his legalization plan. He said the proposal could serve as a starting point for debate in Congress.

"I think it creates a great opportunity, mostly because he's finally separated guest worker from amnesty," Bilbray said. "It was synonymous before ... anytime he was talking about guest worker, he was talking about amnesty."

The president's plan is just one of several being discussed in Washington.

A broad immigration bill introduced last month by Reps. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., would give illegal immigrants six-year visas and create a guest-worker program, while increasing the number of Border Patrol agents, border fences and surveillance equipment.

Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., is also expected to introduce a similar bill in the Senate.

Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, an immigrant rights advocacy group, said the new Democratic leadership in Congress and the president want to pass a broad immigration reform plan. He said Bilbray's guest-worker idea is not likely to get much support.

Sharry said the new Democratic majority in Congress is instead likely to rally around comprehensive immigration bills, similar to the Gutierrez-Flake proposal.

"When you suffer a huge loss, like a death in the family or the leadership in Congress, the first stage is denial, and I would say that Bilbray is in denial," Sharry said.

On recent immigration enforcement efforts in North County, Bilbray said he has encouraged local governments to work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to catch illegal immigrants at sobriety checkpoints.

Regarding the Iraq war, Bilbray said he wants Congress to give military commanders and the troops a chance to succeed. Asked what he believed victory in Iraq would look like, he offered Turkey as a model.

"Turkey is a functioning system. That's the best goal that we can hope for down the line," he said.

Bilbray also said leaving a country that is not a "petri dish for terrorism" would be a victory for the United States.

President Bush is expected to veto an Iraq war-funding bill pushed by Democrats that sets a timeline for withdrawing U.S. troops.

Bilbray called the measure a high-stakes "game of chicken" that he said would end with Democrats giving in and funding the troops.

-- Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-3511 or esifuentes@nctimes.com.




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