Bush Speech Revives Immigration Reform Initiative

The recent speech of President Bush stirred some interest in the immigration reform debate. He challenged the Senate to come up with its own version of comprehensive immigration reform and it appears that the Senate may rise to the challenge. It recently voted down a proposal by Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA) to implement border security measures first before considering any immigration reform.

But the President’s speech has drawn mixed reactions. Immigration reform advocates believe he should do more by calling upon his fellow Republicans in Congress to push for comprehensive immigration reform. On the other hand, certain groups brand the Bush proposal an “amnesty” and offensive to the rule of law.

It has been noted that the Bush speech was intended to patch up the differences within the Republican party on the divisive issue of immigration reform and at the same time shore up support from Hispanic voters for this crucial election year.

To appease the hardliners from the enforcement-only side, the President promised to beef up border patrols at the US-Mexico border by sending an additional 6,000 National Guards by 2008. White House representatives said the President will be asking Congress to set aside $1.9 billion for this purpose. Immigrant rights advocates believe this is not the solution to illegal immigration and even raised fears of human rights violations at the border.

In the meantime, President Bush also tried to forge a middle ground between the mass deportation proposal of the restrictionists and the earned legalization proposal of the pro-immigrant groups. He practically endorsed the Senate compromise bill, which provides earned legalization on the basis of the length of stay of the undocumented immigrant in the US. He also reiterated his support for a temporary worker program that will match willing foreign workers with willing American employers.

Heeding the President’s call, the Senate has buckled down to work anew to work out the details of a compromise immigration reform bill. In a recent report, the Senate unanimously approved an amendment to exclude undocumented immigrants who have been convicted of a felony or three misdemeanors from the earned legalization program. This amendment was “softened” with certain exceptions based on hardship and cases involving those who did not know a deportation order had been issued against them.

Unfortunately, the Senate also diluted the guest worker program of the compromise bill by reducing the annual cap from at least 325,000 to just 200,000.

More deliberations and amendments should be expected over the next several days. The Senate is expected to come up with its own version of the immigration reform bill by Memorial Day. But the work of immigration reform advocates is definitely far from over.

As Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) noted, the immigration reform bill will ultimately be written at conference committee where the proponents of the Senate version and of H.R. 4437 will come face to face with what could be considered the most difficult piece of legislation in recent years.