The Washington Times
President Bush yesterday said Americans will soon realize they need the immigrants and foreign temporary workers that would have been allowed by his immigration bill, which was defeated in the Senate last month.
Mr. Bush, in a town hall session in Nashville, Tenn., also refused to say whether he will pardon two U.S. Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a fleeing drug-smuggling suspect, saying the prosecutor was a friend of his who made his case to the jury that convicted the agents.
If Mr. Bush was hoping the immigration issue would disappear after his bill's failure, those hopes were dashed, as he was asked repeatedly about border security during the forum — meant to highlight his commitment to cutting the deficit.
"The bill failed and I can't make a prediction to you at this point, sir, where it's going to head," the president told one questioner. "I can make you a prediction, though, that pretty shortly people are going to be knocking on people's doors saying, man, we're running out of workers."
Mr. Bush said there are workers who will do jobs Americans aren't doing in the agriculture sector in particular, and without them the jobs will go unfilled.
Posted by Richard at July 22, 2007