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Congress Must Pass Workable Immigration Program in 2007



Border Security + Private Sector Guest Worker Program Keys to Much-Needed
Solution

DENVER, Jan. 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In his State of the Union
address to the nation last night, President George W. Bush again called for
a temporary guest worker program as part of an immigration reform package.
Helen Krieble, noted immigration policy expert and President of the
Vernon K. Krieble Foundation, said President Bush was right to address the
issue of illegal immigration, but Congress must not approach the issue in
the same piecemeal fashion that failed in the last session.
"The best way for this new Congress to achieve its goals is to enact a
workable program, which secures the border and deals with illegal
immigrants already living here. This should have nothing to do with
citizenship, only the opportunity to work legally.
"A guest worker program will only work is if it is established and
managed by the private sector. Workers and employers must be driven by
incentives. Employers, who would face stiff fines for hiring illegal
workers must also have the ability to hire legal workers. Workers who are
in the U.S. illegally must have incentives to go home and apply for legal
work in the U.S. If illegal aliens do not have the opportunity to quickly
gain legal status, they will never leave. Such a program, like the one
drafted by the Vernon K. Krieble Foundation, would allow illegal workers to
emerge from the shadows and participate in the most prosperous economy in
the world.
"But the federal government bureaucracy has proven to be incapable of
handling the illegal immigration problem. Spending billions more on border
security alone -- and adding thousands of new federal employees -- without
a workable solution to the country's labor needs will not work.
"Congress may have new leadership, but it still faces the same problem.
All sides must spend the time to understand this issue, to honestly assess
the problems at hand and enact a fair policy that will actually work," said
Ms. Krieble.
For more information or to schedule an interview with Helen Krieble,
please contact Kevin McVicker with Shirley & Banister Public Affairs at
(703) 739-5920. The Krieble plan is available at http://www.krieble.org.



SOURCE Vernon K. Krieble Foundation