Published Monday | April 9, 2007
No free pass for Bush's immigration revamp

THE WASHINGTON POST
WASHINGTON - President Bush is relaunching his push for a sweeping overhaul of the nation's immigration laws with a speech today in Yuma, Ariz.

As he makes his attempt, Bush finds new congressional leadership that is friendlier to his views but faces the same dynamics that scuttled his last attempt: A cooperative Senate but bipartisan opposition in the House.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has told the White House she could not pass a bill with Democratic votes alone, nor would she seek to enforce party discipline on the issue.

Bush would have to produce at least 70 Republican votes before she would consider a vote on comprehensive immigration legislation. Garnering such support might be very difficult for a president saddled with low approval ratings.

Democratic conservatives, particularly freshmen who seized their seats from Republicans, had to weather a barrage of attacks on the issue before their victories in November and are not eager to relive the experience, party aides and lawmakers say.

Some of those Democratic freshmen, such as Reps. Nancy Boyda of Kansas, Brad Ellsworth of Indiana, Nick Lampson of Texas and Heath Shuler of North Carolina, are strongly opposed to any bill that would grant any of the nation's estimated 12 million illegal immigrants legal residency or citizenship, at least until new border controls are implemented and proved effective.

Bush's plan
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Undocumented workers could apply for three-year work visas, renewable indefinitely at a cost of $3,500 each time.
To get a green card that would make them legal permanent residents, they would have to return to their home countries, apply for re-entry at a U.S. embassy or consulate, and pay a $10,000 fine.
More green cards would be made available to skilled workers by limiting visas for parents, children and siblings of U.S. citizens.
Temporary workers could not bring their families into the country.
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In his speech this afternoon in Yuma, Bush was to stress four elements that he has to see in an immigration bill: more border security; better enforcement of immigration laws in the nation's interior, especially laws against the hiring of undocumented workers; a temporary worker program to address labor shortages; and "resolving without amnesty and without animosity the status of the millions of illegal immigrants here right now," said White House spokesman Scott Stanzel.

Key Democrats have said Bush's plan would unacceptably split families while creating a permanent underclass of temporary workers with no prospects of fully participating in U.S. society. Their competing vision has been introduced in the House by Reps. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.

The bill would make illegal immigrants who were in the country before June 1, 2006, eligible for legalization after a $500 fine, a security clearance and proof that they had been actively employed before that date. After six years, immigrants who learn English, stay crime-free and pay an additional $1,500 would be eligible for permanent residency and eventually citizenship.

Under the bill, hundreds of thousands of guest workers could enter the United States each year to fill jobs that most Americans do not want.

Illegal immigrants hoping to become legal would have to return briefly to their countries, but they would have six years to do so, and that "touch back" provision includes numerous exemptions for children and nonworking spouses taking care of those children.

This alternative bill is called the STRIVE Act, or the Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy Act.

There is some evidence that recent border crackdowns and workplace raids have had an impact in slowing the flow of illegal immigrants. After growing from 30 million in 2000 to 35.2 million in 2005, the official Census count of foreign-born U.S. residents grew by 500,000 last year.

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