http://www.freep.com/news/nw/immi8_20040108.htm

Foreigners could gain entry to U.S. by holding a job
January 8, 2004

BY RON HUTCHESON AND DAVE MONTGOMERY
FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF

WASHINGTON -- President George W. Bush's plan to overhaul U.S. immigration laws was blasted Wednesday by a wide range of groups, suggesting he'll have a difficult time finding congressional support.

Anti-immigration groups said Bush's plan to offer legal status to millions of workers who are in the country illegally would bring a flood of new immigrants and drive down wages.

Labor unions and immigrant groups called the proposal an election-year ploy that would lead to more exploitation of foreign workers.

Positive reaction came from business leaders, who praised Bush's effort to meet their employment needs while closing the black market in human labor.

Under the plan, workers who are in the country illegally could become legal by joining a new guest worker program. People wanting entry to the country could gain it by showing that they have a job.

The guest workers could stay for three years, with the possibility of extensions. Bush left it to Congress to decide how many extensions a worker could receive. Bush's proposals are of vital interest to the millions of immigrants who work without permission in the United States as farm laborers, maids and in other positions near the bottom of the economic ladder.

The proposals are virtually certain to be vigorously debated in Congress, and among millions of people who are interested in immigration issues, either out of personal concern or for social-policy reasons.

The possible seeds of some of the arguments were immediately obvious, perhaps most clearly the provision that a worker's legal status would expire after three years, yet be renewable, and yet not be permanent.

How that provision will work in practice and whether illegal workers will think it safer simply to remain in the shadows are questions yet to be answered.

The proposal, Bush's first initiative of the election year, re-ignited the debate over immigration and tossed the issue into the middle of the 2004 presidential campaign. It also inflamed passions over how to deal with the millions of illegal immigrants in the United States.

The government estimates that number between 8 million and 14 million -- about 60 percent of whom are from Central and South American countries.

Declaring the current system a failure, Bush said his plan recognizes reality and lets illegal workers come into the open.

"Workers who seek only to earn a living end up in the shadows of American life -- fearful, often abused and exploited," he said. "It is not the American way.

"Our laws should allow willing workers to enter our country and fill jobs that Americans are not filling," he said.

Although the goal of closing the underground market for illegal workers has broad support from business organizations, labor unions and liberal advocacy groups, the coalition broke apart over the details of Bush's plan. Labor leaders and immigrant advocacy groups criticized Bush's refusal to put illegal workers on a track to full citizenship.

Under the White House plan, illegal workers who join the guest worker program could apply for citizenship, but they would have no advantage over any other immigrant.

"America is a welcoming country," Bush said, "but citizenship must not be the automatic reward for violating the laws of America."

Nearly all of Bush's Democratic rivals for the White House favor plans that would make it much easier for illegal workers to become citizens. Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., said Bush's proposal "leaves foreign workers as fodder for our fields and factories, without giving them a path to legalization."

Labor leaders said Bush's call for full legal rights for guest workers means little if they are in the country temporarily. Guest workers are open to exploitation, immigration experts say, because they need their employers' assistance to obtain their visas.

Other critics said Bush's plan would go too far by letting illegal workers obtain legal status.

"There's nothing more permanent than a temporary worker," said Craig Nelsen, director of ProjectUSA, a group that favors tougher immigration laws. "There's going to be a surge in illegals coming across the border now, hoping to get in on the amnesty."

"Eighteen million Americans are looking for full-time work, and Bush says we need guest workers," complained the Web site of the Midwest Coalition to Reduce Immigration.

If approved by Congress, Bush's plan would be the biggest overhaul of U.S. immigration laws since the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, which granted legal status to nearly 3 million undocumented workers.