President Bush deserves at least tentative praise this week for his recently proposed immigration policy — for a bold political coup that strengthens his political standing while probably improving the lives of people working within America’s borders.
Bush outlined his new program Wednesday, wherein otherwise illegal immigrants could apply for temporary three-year visas (with the probable option of a three-year extension) and work in United States legally for that time. After their tenure, those workers could apply for permanent residency, although the system (rightfully) wouldn’t grant any preference to those in the new temporary worker program. If they do not, or don’t qualify for Green Cards, they would be required by law — presumably one better enforced than current illegal immigration and work laws — to return to their home country. Illegal immigrants who applied to the system would need to prove that they were working to remain in the country, a requirement that should discourage a flood of illegal immigration.
Some conservatives complained that the provisions reward lawbreakers.
“People who are here illegally — they need to be deported,” Rep. Thomas Tancredo, R-Colo., argued. “People who hire them need to be fined. If they keep doing it, they need to be sent to jail. It’s against the law.”
Some liberals blasted the plan for not doing enough to resolve illegal immigration issues. Either way, that the plan is (predictably) coming under attack from both sides of the Congressional aisle paints Bush as a moderate on a sensitive issue in an election year, when wooing moderate and swing votes is, by definition, critical.
The move could attract usually left-leaning Hispanic voters, too, who comprise the largest and fastest-growing, and therefore increasingly politically essential, minority in the United States. In 2000, only 35 percent of Hispanics voted for Bush (compared to Vice President Al Gore’s 65 percent).
Bush’s goal, an administration official said, was to “promote compassion” and to fix the “broken” immigration-work system. And the system is very much broken: An estimated 8 million undocumented immigrants — most from Mexico — now live in America.
The White House program is similar to various proposals sitting in Congress.
A sage suggestion comes from Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., who would allow (otherwise illegal) temporary workers to take jobs, given that they were first posted on the Internet for 14 days so that U.S. citizens could get the first chance to apply.
Such a provision is essential, too, to prevent an increase in citizen unemployment and to satisfy the program’s stated goal of matching “willing workers with willing employers.”
It’s critical, too, that any immigration work program that legalizes the presence of currently illegal immigrants be combined with a more aggressive system of tracking down and deporting illegal immigrants who choose not to enter the system. Also, a determined assault — including harsher penalties — on businesses that continue to hire illegal immigrants is needed.
Otherwise, the system would devolve into a three-tier equivalent of the present, dysfunctional system: legal workers, newly legal immigrant workers under the program and illegal immigrant workers who have little more incentive to join the problem than they do now.
Immigration proposals put Bush on the left track
Daily Emerald
January 11, 2004
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