‘Legal Path’ to Immigration Stressed

U.S. officials Thursday emphasized their goal of establishing a broad new immigration status for temporary workers in the United States while playing down proposals for granting amnesty to millions of undocumented Mexican laborers already in the country.

“The immigration system must be fair, and our most important obligation is to those who follow the rules and abide by the law,” Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said after two hours of talks with Mexican officials. “The only path must be the legal path.”

Powell and Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft met with Mexican Foreign Secretary Jorge Castaneda and Interior Minister Santiago Creel at the State Department to discuss how immigration from Mexico to this country can become a safer, more orderly process.

While the talks yielded no dramatic breakthroughs, they provided a more focused picture of the Bush administration’s priorities on an issue that has stirred sentiments throughout the country in recent weeks. A key to any new approach, Powell suggested, would be the creation of a program in which Mexicans could enter the United States with the status of temporary workers.

“We got into some specifics with respect to a temporary worker program that we will be pursuing in greater detail in the months ahead,” Powell said. “We’re in no hurry. We have to do this right. We have to do this in a careful way, a way that will be seen as fair and equitable by . . . the people of both nations.”

The talks were the latest step in a U.S.-Mexico dialogue on immigration that began with President Bush’s visit to Mexico in February. Both nations hope to reach some agreements by early September, when Mexican President Vicente Fox visits the United States. But the White House has signaled that it may be impossible to finish detailed reforms so soon.

Avoiding specifics, Powell told reporters: “We want to make sure that we have a humane approach to the solution of the migration challenge.”

Mexico’s Creel told reporters that the ministers had taken “a very important step” toward finding a solution for the millions of Mexicans living and working in the United States.

“The step consisted of agreeing to a series of principles and precepts, which will regulate the negotiating process which is going to take place,” he added.

Castaneda spoke in general but optimistic terms about talks between the two nations.

“We are achieving important progress. We are moving ahead very well at the technical level,” he said.

Fox has pushed for a package deal with the United States that would include a new status for guest workers, legalization of undocumented immigrants, higher visa ceilings and improved border safety.

In the late 1990s, illegal migration from Mexico prompted relatively few complaints from American workers, who were benefiting from boom times and low unemployment. On Thursday, Powell suggested that the new policy would have to consider the possibility of a weaker U.S. economy, noting: “We want to make sure the immigration system . . . does not disadvantage American workers.”

In recent days, Bush administration officials have seemed wary of the scope of a possible legalization program, emphasizing instead the establishment of a temporary guest worker program for future migrants, which could possibly open doors to permanent residence for some.

While the notion of some sort of legalization strategy has been embraced by Democratic Party leaders and also has adherents inside the Republican Party, it could prove problematic with many GOP conservatives.

In an interview Thursday, House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert cast strong doubts on the political feasibility of a sweeping amnesty plan.

“To grant blanket amnesty, I think, is something that Congress doesn’t look favorably on right now,” the Illinois Republican told the Los Angeles Times. “A lot of people talk about their constituents waiting in line for years to get their citizenship,” and a broad amnesty might appear to allow others to short-circuit the process, he said.

Hastert said he and many Republicans believe amnesty would encourage further illegal immigration by holding out the promise of citizenship somewhere down the road. “Probably that would be a tough thing to get passed in Congress,” Hastert said.

Instead, he advocated a guest worker program that would allow “people to come in, work and then go home. . . . There’s a huge demand for people to do the things that make this economy work, and we don’t have the workers to do it.”

But Eliseo Medina, executive vice president of the Service Employees International Union, maintained that “a broad consensus is developing in this country that recognizes that the time for legalization has come. . . . We encourage President Bush and his advisors to support legalization of hard-working, taxpaying immigrants already in the U.S., regardless of nationality.”

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Times staff writers Mark Z. Barabak and James F. Smith contributed to this story.