Is Bush's plan for illegal immigrants 'practical,' or amnesty?

Both the House and Senate passed immigration-reform bills in the last Congress but failed to come to terms on a comprehensive plan. What emerged was a bill to build a fence on the border with Mexico, hire more border patrol agents, and add sensors and cameras to help pinpoint illegal crossers.

Since 2001, the Bush administration has increased the number of border agents from about 9,000 to 13,000.

"The number of people apprehended for illegally crossing our southern border is down by nearly 30 percent this year," Bush said in Yuma. "We're making progress."

Previous efforts to stem illegal immigration failed, he said, because they didn't do enough to secure the borders or give employers "sensible ways" to verify the legal status of the workers they hire.

Democrats are cautious

This year, Democrats control both bodies – thanks mainly to wins by conservative freshmen, many of whom ran campaigns opposed to amnesty for illegal immigrants. That's why they want to be certain Bush can deliver the votes before they'll agree to move the legislation.

While the president didn't give details of his plan, one draft proposal calls for illegal immigrants to pay a $10,000 fine to qualify for a three-year work visa. A leak of this plan prompted a protest rally by undocumented workers and their supporters in Los Angeles last weekend.

Commenting on Bush's speech, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on the president to "work collaboratively and on a bipartisan basis to pass comprehensive immigration reform" and urged him to take up the Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy Act (Strive Act) introduced by Reps. Luis Gutierrez (D) of Illinois and Jeff Flake (R) of Arizona.Unlike leaked versions of the Senate GOP plan, the Strive Act would require undocumented workers to leave the US to regularize their status, but not necessarily that they go to their countries of origin. The House plan also sets a lower fine: $500 for those who want to continue to work in the US under a guestworker program and $1,500 to get on a path to citizenship. Both plans would open a path to citizenship to those in the US before June 1, 2006.

"The president didn't side particularly with one proposal or another. He didn't talk about $10,000 fines, which is good," says Tamar Jacoby, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a think tank. "These are going to be hard negotiations, and both sides are going to have to give. He did a good job of generating momentum."While Senate negotiations on a bipartisan bill bogged down in recent weeks, Senate leaders say they will take up some version of immigration reform in the two weeks before the Memorial Day recess, even if it means going back to the bipartisan bill that the Senate passed in the last Congress.If the Senate does produce a bill, Speaker Pelosi could find that she can craft a bipartisan House bill with only 30 or 40 GOP votes, says Ms. Jacoby, who is advising Democrats on the immigration issue.

Page: 1 | 2