Bush Downplays Rifts on Border

President Bush sought on Tuesday to minimize the differences dividing the House and Senate on immigration, telling an audience of Border Patrol recruits that consensus was growing nationwide for changes in immigration policy.

“It seems like there’s nothing but disagreement on immigration policy in Washington,” Bush said. “Yet there’s a growing consensus among all parties and all regions of the country that fundamental reforms are needed.”

“In other words, people are coming to the conclusion we got to do something about a system that isn’t working,” he said at a Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in southeastern New Mexico about 100 miles from the Mexican border. “And while the differences grab the headlines, the similarities in approaches are striking.”

The center is a 2,540-acre campus ringed with barbed wire. Recruits undergo 19 weeks of training that includes physical workouts, firearms use and Spanish-language classes.

In May, Bush called for an additional 6,000 Border Patrol agents by 2008 -- a 50% increase to 18,000 over current levels.

With Bush looking on, recruits demonstrated scenarios for capturing illegal immigrants, among them halting a vehicle and checking a train. Recruits used three rail cars, deployed on tracks in the middle of campus, to show how to look for illegal immigrants smuggled in boxcars.

With temperatures nearing 100 degrees, Bush emphasized in a speech at the training center that despite the divisive debate over immigration, there was agreement on the need to control the nation’s borders “so that every illegal immigrant caught at the border” is sent home.

“We agree that the government needs to crack down on businesses that hire illegal workers,” he said.

“We agree that it’s unacceptable to have millions of illegal immigrants living in our country beyond the reach of law and the protection of law,” he said, adding: “And we all agree that immigrants to America must assimilate into our society. They must embrace our values and learn to speak the English language.”

But Bush did not assert there was agreement on a key part of his vision for an immigration overhaul: a temporary worker program that would require workers to return to their home countries after their visas expired. A large group of House Republicans oppose this idea, but Bush said a temporary worker program was needed to “reduce the incentives for foreign workers to sneak across the border.”

The president said another part of his vision, which also is strongly opposed by many House Republicans, “is the toughest part of the bill for Congress.” It would allow some people who are in the U.S. illegally to apply for citizenship if they paid a fine, paid any taxes due, learned English and could prove that they had been working for a number of years.

Bush’s upbeat tone contrasted with a lack of developments in Washington, where lawmakers have made no movement toward resolving a procedural impasse that has prevented House and Senate members from beginning negotiations over their differing versions of an immigration-law overhaul.

The House has passed legislation that focuses on border security and law enforcement at the workplace, while the Senate, in addition to calling for more border security, has approved a temporary worker program and path to citizenship for most illegal immigrants now in the U.S.

Negotiations between the two chambers have been stalled because the Senate bill would require illegal immigrants to pay back taxes and fines to gain legal status. The Constitution, however, says that only the House can initiate bills that raise revenues. Republicans say procedural maneuvers are necessary so that the Senate provisions conform to the Constitution, but there has been no agreement on how to proceed.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) called for Bush to push congressional Republicans to act. “The president helped us on this issue, but he needs to help us a lot more.”

Echoing the president, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) remarked on areas of agreement between the Senate and House, noting that the main author of the House bill, Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), has recently spoken positively about a temporary worker program.

“It’s a sign that the ice is melting,” Cornyn said.