Bush Administration Drawing Up Immigration Plan
Wed Dec 24, 2:20 PM ET Add Top Stories - Reuters to My Yahoo!
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In what could be the biggest change in U.S. immigration law in nearly two decades, the Bush administration is drawing up plans to help more immigrants find work legally in the United States, officials and congressional aides said on Wednesday.
Reuters Photo
President Bush (news - web sites) is expected to outline the new program next month, most likely before traveling to Monterrey, Mexico, on Jan. 12 for talks with Mexican President Vicente Fox (news - web sites) and other Latin American leaders at a summit of the Organization of American States.
"The president has said that we need to have an immigration policy that helps match any willing employer with any willing employee," a White House official said. "The administration is studying the issue and will make recommendations to Congress in due course."
Bush said earlier this month that "this administration is firmly against blanket amnesty" for undocumented people living in the United States.
Administration officials declined to offer many details about the program under consideration.
It is expected to include elements from immigration reform legislation proposed by U.S. Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record) and Reps. Jeff Flake and Jim Kolbe, all Arizona Republicans.
That bill would create a new type of temporary work visa and an electronic job registry that would allow U.S. employers to post jobs for Americans as well as foreign workers.
Under the legislation, new visa holders would have the same rights, wages, working conditions and protections as American workers. Visa holders could apply for lawful permanent resident status after three years in the United States.
Advocates say the program would help regulate the flow of workers across the U.S.-Mexico border -- every year 400,000 more Mexicans cross the border -- but congressional aides acknowledged that reaching a consensus in Congress on immigration reform would be difficult.
Talks on an immigration deal with Mexico were high on the agenda at the start of Bush's administration but the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks pushed the issue to the back burner, to Mexico's frustration.