Tougher Talk on Illegal Immigration

Faced with deep divisions in its political base over immigration reform, the Bush administration said Tuesday that it would press ahead with the president’s plan to adopt tougher measures to control the borders and crack down on illegal residents, while also pushing to enact a guest worker program that would make it easier for foreigners to enter the United States legally.

Conservatives, including Senate Republican leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, have called for putting off consideration of a guest worker program until after a law enforcement crackdown is launched and demonstrates that it can choke the flow of illegal immigrants and deal with the 11 million already in the country.

Administration officials sought to mollify conservatives by using strong language to describe their commitment to harsher enforcement of immigration laws.

President Bush and Cabinet officials also said they would not support amnesty or an easy path to citizenship for those who entered the country illegally. Although they provided few details, they said illegal workers would have to pay significant penalties, including leaving the United States, before they could seek legal status.

But they said greater law enforcement efforts must go hand in hand with a guest worker program to facilitate the flow of immigrants into the workforce.

The position, sketched in testimony before Congress and in remarks by the president at a bill-signing ceremony, offered insight into what the administration was prepared to do -- and not do -- to bridge the gulf between two key elements in Bush’s political base.

Business groups, including many California farmers and growers, insist that any new federal immigration policy must ensure a steady supply of low-cost foreign labor. But some social conservatives have been demanding the tougher enforcement measures.

Last week, the Washington Times quoted Frist as saying the Senate would tackle border control and enforcement of immigration laws before taking up broader questions of immigration policy and guest workers.

And Tuesday, after hearing testimony from Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, some Republicans on the Judiciary Committee bridled at the president’s plans.

“Our committee has a lot of work to do before we truly think about implementing a guest worker program in this country,” Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) told Chertoff. “I say that because our Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents drive by day-labor centers knowing that illegal aliens loiter the street corner in search of illegal work -- but do nothing. I don’t know how we can reasonably create a system for 10 million illegal aliens when we cannot currently handle the workload on our desks.”

Bush, speaking as he signed a $31-billion funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security that included increased money for border enforcement, acknowledged the problem but defended his approach.

“We got people sneaking into our country to work. They want to provide for their families. But because there is no legal way for them to do so, through a temporary-worker program, they’re putting pressure on our border,” Bush said.

“It makes sense to have a rational plan that says you can come and work on a temporary basis if an employer can’t find an American to do the job. It makes sense for the employer, it makes sense for the worker and it makes sense for those good people trying to enforce our border.”

His guest worker plan would not give illegal aliens a path to legal residency, Bush said.

Chertoff and Chao told the Judiciary Committee that security fences, unmanned aerial surveillance and sharply boosted border patrols weren’t enough to stop illegal immigration.

“We need more than brute enforcement,” Chertoff said. “We need a temporary-worker program as well.”

A legal guest worker program would allow Homeland Security officials to focus on serious security threats and gain control of the border, Chertoff said.

Chao said the president’s guest worker program would use a “technologically advanced system” to establish a person’s eligibility to work and enable employers to easily verify worker status. And illegal immigrants would have an opportunity to get credentials and undergo background checks.

But “at a minimum, those who come forward will not be offered an automatic pass to citizenship and should be expected to pay a substantial fine or penalty to take part in the temporary program,” Chao said. Immigrants in the program could apply for a maximum of two three-year periods, after which they would have to return to their home countries for at least a year before they could apply to enter the program again, she said.

While Chao focused on the guest worker program, Chertoff emphasized enforcement, announcing that his department would aim to eliminate the practice of “catch and release,” in which border agents let illegal immigrants go because there aren’t enough detention facilities to hold them. “Return every single illegal entrant -- no exceptions,” Chertoff promised.

In a separate briefing to reporters on the Senate floor Tuesday morning, Frist said an immigration bill might be the next major legislation debated in the Senate, though probably not before the Thanksgiving recess.

He said he was committed to a comprehensive approach to immigration changes, but added that he believed the Senate needed to “focus on border security first.” As majority leader, Frist controls the Senate’s floor schedule.

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Times staff writer Mary Curtius contributed to this report.