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  1. #1

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    Survey: Mexicans would use Bush's guest-worker program

    http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/03 ... 3_2_05.txt

    Survey: Mexicans would use Bush's guest-worker program
    By: EDWARD SIFUENTES - Staff Writer

    In the first survey of its kind, most Mexican immigrants said they would participate in a temporary guest-worker program similar to the one proposed by President Bush, according to a poll by the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research organization in Washington, D.C.

    The survey seems to bolster the president's plan. The results also appear contrary to what some immigrant rights groups have said: that immigrants would not participate in a program that does not provide a clear path to permanent residency.

    Bush's plan would create a temporary guest-worker program for illegal immigrants in the United States and people who are offered jobs here. Immigrants would be allowed to extend three-year work visas, but would not be given priority over other applicants for permanent residency.

    According to the survey, nearly three-quarters of the 4,836 Mexican immigrants polled said they would enroll in a guest-worker program such as the one outlined by Bush. A similar number said they would participate in a program such as the one proposed by some leading Democrats that would allow them a path to permanent residency.

    What this shows is a "desire to come out of the shadows," Roberto Suro, director of the Pew Hispanic Center, said in a telephone interview with reporters.

    Some who oppose guest-worker programs read the results differently.

    "What this told us is that this community didn't see a difference in these programs," said John Keeley, director of communications for the Center of Immigration Studies, a research and policy organization that favors stricter immigration policies. The group is against guest-worker programs. "They realize that this is an amnesty program."

    The survey was conducted from July 2004 to January 2005. Participants were interviewed in Mexican consular offices around the country while the immigrants were applying for consular identification cards, known as "matricula consulares."

    People were polled at the Mexican consulates in Los Angeles, Fresno, New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas and Raleigh, N.C., which Suro said represented a sample of the Mexican immigrant community. Mexicans represent nearly 60 percent of the country's illegal immigrant population, according to a 2002 study by the Pew Hispanic Center.

    Suro said the participants were not asked for their legal status in the country, but they were asked whether they had any U.S.-issued identification cards. More than half of them, 2,566, said they did not have ID cards.

    Among those who participated in the survey, those who had been in the country the longest said they tended to agree that they planned to stay in the country longer, while younger, newer arrivals said they planned to return to Mexico within two years.

    Most troubling to Keeley, of the Center for Immigration Studies, was that the survey suggests that a guest-worker program would encourage more immigration. Nearly 80 percent of the participants said they had family or friends in Mexico who would be willing to participate in a guest-worker program.

    "It did confirm our suspicion that a policy like this would guarantee our high levels of immigration," he said.

    Mexico's undersecretary for North American Affairs, Geronimo Gutierrez, said that immigration benefits both countries and that his country wants policies that promote "safe, orderly and legal" migration between the two countries.

    "Mexico and the U.S. have complimentary population and economic dynamics," Gutierrez said from Mexico City in a telephone conference with reporters. "We believe that to the extent that jobs are available in the U.S., taking advantage of these dynamics, we can improve the economic conditions of both countries."

    Gutierrez said that if a guest-worker program was in place, most Mexicans would choose to use it and return to Mexico. He noted the guest-worker program between Mexico and Canada as an example. It allows 12,000 Mexicans to travel to Canada to work each year and most return to Mexico, he said.

    "The main finding in this survey is that people want to use legal avenues, where they exist," he said. "They don't want to live in a clandestine way on the margins of society."

    Find the full report at: http://pewhispanic.org/.

    Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-5426 or esifuentes@nctimes.com
    "This country has lost control of its borders. And no country can sustain that kind of position." .... Ronald Reagan

  2. #2

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    Survey: Mexicans would use Bush's guest-worker program

    http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/03 ... 3_2_05.txt

    Survey: Mexicans would use Bush's guest-worker program
    By: EDWARD SIFUENTES - Staff Writer

    In the first survey of its kind, most Mexican immigrants said they would participate in a temporary guest-worker program similar to the one proposed by President Bush, according to a poll by the Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research organization in Washington, D.C.

    The survey seems to bolster the president's plan. The results also appear contrary to what some immigrant rights groups have said: that immigrants would not participate in a program that does not provide a clear path to permanent residency.

    Bush's plan would create a temporary guest-worker program for illegal immigrants in the United States and people who are offered jobs here. Immigrants would be allowed to extend three-year work visas, but would not be given priority over other applicants for permanent residency.

    According to the survey, nearly three-quarters of the 4,836 Mexican immigrants polled said they would enroll in a guest-worker program such as the one outlined by Bush. A similar number said they would participate in a program such as the one proposed by some leading Democrats that would allow them a path to permanent residency.

    What this shows is a "desire to come out of the shadows," Roberto Suro, director of the Pew Hispanic Center, said in a telephone interview with reporters.

    Some who oppose guest-worker programs read the results differently.

    "What this told us is that this community didn't see a difference in these programs," said John Keeley, director of communications for the Center of Immigration Studies, a research and policy organization that favors stricter immigration policies. The group is against guest-worker programs. "They realize that this is an amnesty program."

    The survey was conducted from July 2004 to January 2005. Participants were interviewed in Mexican consular offices around the country while the immigrants were applying for consular identification cards, known as "matricula consulares."

    People were polled at the Mexican consulates in Los Angeles, Fresno, New York City, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas and Raleigh, N.C., which Suro said represented a sample of the Mexican immigrant community. Mexicans represent nearly 60 percent of the country's illegal immigrant population, according to a 2002 study by the Pew Hispanic Center.

    Suro said the participants were not asked for their legal status in the country, but they were asked whether they had any U.S.-issued identification cards. More than half of them, 2,566, said they did not have ID cards.

    Among those who participated in the survey, those who had been in the country the longest said they tended to agree that they planned to stay in the country longer, while younger, newer arrivals said they planned to return to Mexico within two years.

    Most troubling to Keeley, of the Center for Immigration Studies, was that the survey suggests that a guest-worker program would encourage more immigration. Nearly 80 percent of the participants said they had family or friends in Mexico who would be willing to participate in a guest-worker program.

    "It did confirm our suspicion that a policy like this would guarantee our high levels of immigration," he said.

    Mexico's undersecretary for North American Affairs, Geronimo Gutierrez, said that immigration benefits both countries and that his country wants policies that promote "safe, orderly and legal" migration between the two countries.

    "Mexico and the U.S. have complimentary population and economic dynamics," Gutierrez said from Mexico City in a telephone conference with reporters. "We believe that to the extent that jobs are available in the U.S., taking advantage of these dynamics, we can improve the economic conditions of both countries."

    Gutierrez said that if a guest-worker program was in place, most Mexicans would choose to use it and return to Mexico. He noted the guest-worker program between Mexico and Canada as an example. It allows 12,000 Mexicans to travel to Canada to work each year and most return to Mexico, he said.

    "The main finding in this survey is that people want to use legal avenues, where they exist," he said. "They don't want to live in a clandestine way on the margins of society."

    Find the full report at: http://pewhispanic.org/.

    Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-5426 or esifuentes@nctimes.com
    "This country has lost control of its borders. And no country can sustain that kind of position." .... Ronald Reagan

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