Bush Links Immigration Crackdown, Worker Plan

President Bush promised Monday to step up efforts to close the border to illegal immigrants, but he insisted that the crackdown be accompanied by a guest worker program open to the millions of people who are already in the country illegally.

“The American people should not have to choose between a welcoming society and a lawful society,” Bush told border security personnel in Arizona who have been on the front lines of the immigration battle. “We can have both at the same time.”

Bush’s speech came as Congress has begun to grapple with overhauling immigration laws, an issue that has divided the Republican Party. Although many businesses that rely on immigrant labor favor a guest worker program, a large group within the party believes tougher border enforcement is most important and that a temporary worker plan would attract more undocumented workers.

By calling for a guest worker plan and tougher measures to stop illegal immigration, the president signaled that he aimed to please both constituencies. He first raised the idea of a guest worker program nearly two years ago.

Bush spoke at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona, a state that is feeling the turbulent effects of illegal immigration. The Democratic governor, Janet Napolitano, in August joined the governor of New Mexico in declaring a state of emergency over the surge in border smuggling and violence, freeing state and federal money for enforcement. The state’s U.S. senators have cosponsored the two major immigration plans now before the Senate, with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) proposing more liberal terms for a guest worker plan than would be enacted under legislation by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.).

In his address Monday, Bush said that his administration would continue to increase federal resources devoted to the border.

Enforcement efforts include the planned hiring of 1,000 Border Patrol agents, increasing the total to about 12,500; the deployment of advanced technology such as “drone” surveillance planes; and the construction of barriers, including the completion of a 14-mile fence near San Diego.

“Our responsibility is clear,” the president said. “We are going to protect the border.” But Bush also said that proposals advancing in Congress to adopt border and interior enforcement laws should include measures that take into account the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants, including 6 million undocumented workers, already in the country.

Such a program, he said, would bring undocumented workers “out of the shadows” and allow them to work legally for several years at jobs that he said Americans did not want. “We will not be able to effectively enforce our immigration laws until we create a temporary worker program,” Bush said.

Answering critics who call a guest worker program a form of amnesty for illegal immigrants, Bush vowed to oppose any proposal providing an “automatic” path to citizenship, and he said that participants in a guest worker program ultimately must return to their home countries.

“I oppose amnesty,” Bush said. “Rewarding those who have broken the law would encourage others to break the law and keep pressure on our border.”

Bush devoted most of his 27-minute address to the law-and-order elements of his immigration agenda, spending much less time discussing its guest worker provisions.

His tough talk on border security reflected a new push by his administration to respond to public anxiety about the effects of illegal immigration, as well as to pressure within his own party to crack down on border crossings now and wrangle over guest workers later.

In many opinion polls, respondents say overwhelmingly that the federal government is not doing enough to secure the country’s borders. A Fox News/Opinion Dynamics survey in April found that 67% favored using the U.S. military to stop illegal immigrants at the border, while 51% said in an October survey by the same group that they favored building a 2,000-mile security fence along the U.S.-Mexico border.

But some surveys show support for a guest worker program. In the April survey by Fox News/Opinion Dynamics, 62% of respondents said they favored allowing undocumented immigrants now working in the United States to apply for legal, temporary worker status.

Monday’s speech was part of a two-day trip devoted largely to immigration in advance of expected action on the issue in the House. Today Bush is scheduled to meet with Border Patrol agents in El Paso before returning to Washington.

Last week, the House Homeland Security Committee approved a bill designed to increase border security and make it easier to deport some illegal immigrants.

House leaders have indicated that they intend to pass a border crackdown bill before year’s end and leave the issue of guest workers until later. The Senate appears more inclined to tackle both issues at once.

The increasing emphasis on enforcement could alienate some key Republican constituencies, including Latino voters that Bush and party leaders have tried to court and many businesses that depend on immigrant labor.

When Bush outlined his immigration overhaul agenda in early 2004, he called for a program that would allow undocumented workers to apply to work legally in the U.S. for as long as six years. The workers would then be expected to return to their home countries.

Disagreements over undocumented workers have divided Republicans in Congress, including Arizona’s two GOP senators. Some lawmakers, including Kyl, want to require those here illegally to return to their home countries before applying for participation in a guest worker program.

Others, including McCain, want to allow undocumented workers who participate in a guest worker program to be able to stay in America and apply for permanent residency or citizenship after paying fines and satisfying other requirements.

So far, Bush has not advocated either approach, and the White House has said all proposals remain under consideration.

But the administration has said repeatedly that unlike McCain’s plan, its guest worker program would not provide a path to citizenship or permanent resident status. McCain argues that without that incentive, there is no reason for illegal immigrants to step forward.

Kyl and McCain attended Bush’s appearance in Tucson, and Bush participated in a Kyl fundraising event later in the day.

Tamar Jacoby, a senior fellow with the Manhattan Institute, which supports a guest worker program as part of an overhaul of immigration laws, said that Bush’s emphasis on border security was necessary for the president to sell a plan that includes a guest worker program.

“The debate has to take place in the context of enforcement and security. Voters have to be reassured that government is serious about enforcing the law,” Jacoby said. “The president made very clear he’s serious about that.”

One group that advocates a tougher stance on illegal immigration said the substance of Bush’s agenda fell somewhat short of the rhetoric.

“I think that the president is moving towards a more realistic set of proposals, but I think he still lags behind the people,” said Colin Hanna, president of a group called WeNeedAFence.com, which advocates building a barrier along the entire length of the U.S.-Mexico border.

In his speech, Bush noted that the administration had increased funding by 44% since 2001 to enforce immigration laws in the nation’s interior. Although he said the funding would allow for new investigators and agents, an August report by the Government Accountability Office found that Immigration and Customs Enforcement dedicated less than 5% of its overall agent resources to workplace enforcement.

Vieth reported from Tucson and Gaouette from Washington. Times staff writers James Gerstenzang and Janet Hook contributed to this report.