Latino lawmakers, led by Baca, meet with Bush on immigration
By George Watson
The Daily Bulletin (Ontario, CA), April 26, 2007
http://www.dailybulletin.com/search/ci_5752507

Rep. Joe Baca led a bipartisan group of Latino lawmakers Wednesday to meet with President Bush to seek his support on immigration reform.

Bush, who himself has advocated comprehensive reform, praised the group of 17 Democrats and five Republicans for their efforts, said Baca, D-San Bernardino.

'The president said he would work hard with us to try and get the Republicans to support the legislation,' Baca said by telephone after the meeting. 'He seemed sincere.'

It was a historic meeting - both for Latino lawmakers and Baca himself - and one that lasted for 75 minutes in the Eisenhower Room at the White House.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus arranged for the meeting with Bush, bringing together Republican and Democratic lawmakers since they split in 1993 over political ideologies. Included in Wednesday's meeting were two senators: Mel Martinez, R-Fla., and Bob Menendez, D-N.J.

Late last fall, Baca was elected chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which until that split 14 years ago had been a bipartisan organization but now is filled only with Democrats.

Latino lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, along with other members of Congress in support of immigration reform, want to push a package through before 2008. Many fear that it would be derailed by becoming a political issue in the 2008 presidential election, bogging down for years any chance at reform.

Baca and several other Latino lawmakers are cosponsors of H.R. 1645, an immigration bill authored by Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., and Rep. Jeff Flake, a fiscally conservative Republican from Arizona.

The multifaceted bill, dubbed STRIVE, for Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy Act, includes a plan that would let the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States apply for conditional immigrant status. More Border Patrol agents would be added through the legislation, and it could enable future foreign workers to come onto the nation's soil and fill jobs Americans won't take.

Bush supports allowing illegal immigrants to work legally in the United States. For them to become permanent legal residents, he also wants a variety of requirements, such as learning English.