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

President Bush's proposal calls for immigrants to return to their home countries and pay $10,000 to obtain a three-year work visa to reenter the US legally.

from the April 11, 2007 edition

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Sticking point: those already in US

How to resolve the status of undocumented immigrants already living in America is but one of several sticking points for lawmakers on Capitol Hill – and much of the American public. The guestworker program, too, is expected to be controversial.

Opposition to anything like amnesty for those who entered or stayed in the United States illegally crosses party lines. Nearly half of the House Republican caucus, 96 of 201 lawmakers, are members of the Immigration Reform Caucus, which opposes new guestworker plans or a path to citizenship for those here illegally. Last year, when a Republican-led Congress approved an immigration reform bill that focused on border security and enforcement, only 17 Republicans opposed it.

"For too long, Americans have been force-fed candidates who ignore or mock their valid concerns about the security of our borders, the enforcement of our immigration laws, and the survival of our national heritage," says Rep. Tom Tancredo (R) of Colorado, who founded the Immigration Reform Caucus and recently launched a presidential bid on a platform of opposition to illegal immigration.

For many Republicans, as well as moderate freshmen Democrats who replaced GOP lawmakers in the 2006 election, a path to citizenship – even with fines and a requirement to return to one's native country before attaining legal status, looks too much like the amnesty policy of the 1980s.

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.

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