TUCSON, Ariz. - President Bush said Monday he wants to crack down on those who enter the country illegally but also give out more visas to foreigners with jobs, a dual plan he hopes will appease the social conservatives and business leaders who are his core supporters.

“The American people should not have to choose between a welcoming society and a lawful society,” Bush said from the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base about an hour from the Mexican border. “We can have both at the same time.”

The touchy issue of immigration has divided lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said he will bring up the issue early next year. The House hopes to tackle some border security measures before adjourning for the year, but little time remains and it has other issues on its plate.

Bush also was pitching his plan in Arizona and Texas on Tuesday, two border states that are home to GOP senators who have been vocal on the need to change immigration laws but who aren’t entirely sold on Bush’s vision.

The idea for temporary worker visas has been especially divisive and is stalled in Congress. Bush said he does not support amnesty for illegal immigrants, but he does want to give workers a way to earn an honest living doing jobs that other Americans are unwilling to do and issue more green cards.

“Listen, there’s a lot of opinions on this proposal,” Bush said. “I understand that, but people in this debate must recognize that we will not be able to effectively enforce our immigration laws until we create a temporary worker program.”

Bush spoke to a supportive audience that included border patrol agents and military troops. He was flanked by two black Customs and Border Protection helicopters and giant green and yellow signs that said “Protecting America's Borders.”

Stronger border security

He said he is providing border agents with cutting-edge technology like overhead surveillance drones and infrared cameras, while at the same time constructing simple physical barriers to entry.

The president’s push on border security and immigration comes a month after Bush signed a $32 billion homeland security bill for 2006 that contains large increases for border protection, including 1,000 additional Border Patrol agents.

Bush has been urging Congress to act on a guest worker program for more than a year. Under his plan, undocumented immigrants would be allowed to get three-year work visas. They could extend that for an additional three years, but would then have to return to their home countries for a year to apply for a new work permit.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., along with Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., has proposed providing illegal immigrants in the United States visas for up to six years. After that, they must either leave the United States or be in the pipeline for a green card, which indicates lawful permanent residency.

Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., support an alternative proposal that would require illegal immigrants to return to their home country to apply for a temporary worker program.

McCain and Kyl appeared with Bush, while Kennedy issued a statement criticizing the president for talking about immigration reform without acting after nearly five years in office. And it wasn't just Democrats saying that — Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee said Americans “are tired of talk and ready for action.”

And, she added, “We have no business discussing guest worker programs until we can actually prevent illegal entry.”


With all this talk of Immigration Reform, what is your view on what the White House is really doing to curb the ever growing problem of thousands of illegal immigrants that cross the U.S. border every year; and if you had the deciding factor what would you do to stop illegal immigration?

Bush not serious about immigration (Tucker Carlson)
-MSNBC's The Situation with Tucker Carlson


President Bush announced a new immigration program on Monday, and was immediately accused of playing politics. The president, his opponents said, isn't more concerned about immigration reform than he used to be. He's just weaker politically. And there's no quicker way to win back the affection of the disaffected Right than to snarl about illegal aliens.

For once, the spin is right: Bush isn't serious about immigration; today's announcement was purely political. How do we know this? Let me count the ways:

For one thing, he waited an awfully long time to make the announcement. Bush has been president for five years. September 11th took place more than four years ago. And on Monday, November 28, 2005, he decides it's time to overhaul border security? Why did it take so long to notice the system was broken?

All the signs were there. The White House's own press release details them. As of now, the statement proclaims, the administration will no longer immediately release illegal aliens caught sneaking over the border. Which is to say, up until now, it has done just that. In the words of the White House: "Because detention facilities lack bed space, most non-Mexican illegal immigrants apprehended are released and directed to return for a court appearance. However, 75 percent fail to show. Last year, only 30,000 of the 160,000 non-Mexicans caught coming across our Southwest border were sent home."

In other words, 130,000 non-Mexican illegal immigrants -- most from Central and South America, but also some from the Middle East and Pakistan -- were allowed to flee from justice and circulate among the American population. How long has the Bush administration been aware of this? Why wasn't something done earlier?

The answer, of course, is that much of the administration's business support comes from companies that benefit from illegal labor. This wings of the Republican Party tends to favor open borders. Under pressure not to enforce immigration laws, the White House hasn't.

And it still won't, at least not very seriously. The last paragraphs of the president's new plan outline what he calls a temporary worker program. "People in this debate must recognize that we will not be able to effectively enforce our immigration laws until we create a temporary worker program," Bush said today. The White House is quick to point out that such a program is not at all the same as amnesty. Perhaps not, but it's pretty close. Illegal aliens living in this country would be allowed to work legally for a set period of time, "and then be required to return home."

That last clause is enough to make you laugh out loud. "And then be required to return home"? Just as 130,000 apprehended illegals were required to go to court? But don't? It's a joke.

A White House serious about ending illegal immigration wouldn't issue press releases like this. Instead it would do three things:

1) Build a fence across the length of the US-Mexican border. Such a fence would be ugly and expensive (though no more expensive than the annual cost of illegal immigration to the State of California's school system.) But it would work. Not even its opponents deny this.

2) Fine employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens. This is an obvious solution, a simple way to dry up demand for illegal immigration. But the business lobby opposes it, so the Bush administration resists it. Shameful.

3) Pressure the government of Mexico, with trade barriers if necessary, to help combat illegal immigration. As it stands, Mexico actively encourages illegal immigration to the US, in some cases even paying the legal fees of illegals who wind up in legal trouble here. When it comes to immigration, Mexico is our enemy, not our ally. We should force that government to switch sides.

When Bush adopts these positions, you'll know he takes border security seriously. Until then, don't believe a word.

Keep those e-mails coming to Tucker@msnbc.com

Watch The Situation with Tucker Carlson each weeknight at 11 p.m. ET

If it were up to me on the issue of Immigration Reform/Border Control; it would have to be required that every immigrant that crosses the U.S. border leagally apply within their home country for a 3 year "Workers Across Borders" visa, that would in return from their government consolate be sent to the U.S State Department, Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the INS, on the federal level spectrum. That would then in return be faxed over to the state level Departments of International/Domestic Affairs, State Border Patrol Agencies; that would need consent of Federal, State officials stating that the person filing for the application has been screened to all preliminary measures to insure that valid documentation is recieved for the individual for employment in state.

After the 3 year visa has expired the individual would have to file for an extention of the program in the state in which they recieved worked; upon the completion of the re-application process the individual would have to return to their home country as a basis of legal binding obligation to the re-application process for a year. Upon the time at which the individual is approved or disapproved for re-entry would be based upon the evaluation of information obtained on a 6 month basis of the individual while the time they were employed through the "Workers Across Borders" program. Which would include verification of legal residence while in states, that no law-enforcement action took place, etc.

If all were in good standing with the vefication of the re-application process the individual would be granted re-entry, and after a period of six years the individual could file for the naturalization process to become an american citizen; but only under those circunstances.