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LULAC Leader Expresses Doubt Over Bush Proposal
Area Economy Thrives From Immigrant Labor, economist says
By Jeff Niese
The Morning News

SPRINGDALE -- The leader of the state's largest organization for Hispanics and Latinos has doubt about an immigration proposal being pushed by President Bush.

"They're not going to want to go back," said Carlos Cervantes, state president of the League of United Latin American Citizens. Cervantes' comments are about a provision in Bush's proposal that would require illegal immigrants to eventually return to their home country and apply for a work visa.

President Bush has been urging Congress to act on a guest worker program for more than a year. Under his plan, undocumented immigrants would be allowed to apply for three-year work visas. The visa could be extended for an additional three years; but, after that, the immigrants would have to return to their home countries for a year to apply for a new work permit.

"There is a need for some sort of guidelines," Cervantes said.


The issue affects local businesses that struggle in an environment of low unemployment to find qualified and able workers, said Raymond Burns, president of the Rogers-Lowell Area Chamber of Commerce.

"Anything we can do to get legally documented people here to work will be a plus," he said.

The chamber has not taken a position on any of the guest worker proposals, Burns said.

From an economic point of view, immigrants make sense, said Jeff Collins, a University of Arkansas economist who studies local business trends.


"That kind of labor force is needed to facilitate the growth in Northwest Arkansas," he said.

The service sector and construction are the two industries that typically employ illegal immigrants, he said.

State Sen. Jim Holt, R-Springdale, said worker programs only encourage illegal immigration.

"It is basically just a back-door amnesty program," he said.

The U.S. Census estimates that there were 41,334 Hispanics or Latinos in the Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers metropolitan-statistical area last year. More than 117,000 Hispanics or Latinos were estimated living in the state last year.

No one is quite sure just how many illegal immigrants are living in Arkansas.

Bush is spending part of this week trying to advance his immigration policy while visiting Arizona and Texas.

Cervantes said his group is still studying the worker permit proposals but is leaning toward a joint proposal by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.

The McCain-Kennedy proposal provides illegal immigrants in the United States visas for up to six years. After that, illegal immigrants must either leave the U.S. or be in the pipeline for a green card, which indicates lawful permanent residency.

An alternate proposal in Congress would require illegal immigrants to return to their home country to apply for a temporary worker program.

For the past year, Bush has been unable to get the House and Senate to approve a main part of his immigration proposal -- his guest worker plan for foreigners.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says the Senate won't take up immigration proposals until February. The House still hopes to take up some border security measures before adjourning this year, but the chances of that happening are slim.

The guest worker plan is likely to be the last immigration issue ironed out.

Conservatives who take the hard line on illegal immigration have balked at the plan, and Bush sought to mollify their concern Monday by talking tough on border security.

"We're going to secure the border by catching those who enter illegally and hardening the border to prevent illegal crossings. We're going to strengthen enforcement of our immigration laws within our country," Bush said.

On Tuesday, the president checked out border security operations in El Paso, Texas. He drove on a road along the Rio Grande and was accompanied by border patrol agents, including some on horseback. Later, he was heading to Colorado for a fund-raiser.