The Washington Times
President Bush last night called for reforming U.S. immigration laws, saying that the current system is "outdated" and that lawmakers need to create a new policy that accepts "hard-working people" while protecting America's borders.
The president said current laws "invite chaos at our borders," in one paragraph that was the only reference to immigration reform in his speech. Mr. Bush had pledged to make his "guest-worker" proposal a top priority for his second-term agenda.
"It is time for an immigration policy that permits temporary guest workers to fill jobs Americans will not take, that rejects amnesty, that tells us who is entering and leaving our country, and that closes the border to drug dealers and terrorists," Mr. Bush said.
But the president has a tough sell with many members of his own party, who said that what he is proposing is an amnesty.
"He is the only person around that I know of that does not think what he is talking about is amnesty. He is creating a new Webster's dictionary definition," said Rep. Tom Tancredo, chairman of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus.
Posted by Suzanne at February 3, 2005