Bush Turns Focus To Immigration

President Bush is trying to build support for a comprehensive immigration strategy — and mollify conservatives wary of his guest worker plan for foreigners — even though Congress has shelved the issue for now.

Republican congressional leaders have postponed work on immigration proposals until early next year, partly because lawmakers are divided over the scope of such changes and whether foreigners illegally working in the United States should be allowed to stay.

The president left his Crawford, Texas, ranch after spending nearly a week there for Thanksgiving, to pitch his plan in Tucson, Ariz., on Monday, and El Paso, Texas, on Tuesday. The border states are home to GOP senators who have been vocal on the need to change immigration laws but who aren't entirely sold on Mr. Bush's vision.

The president's plan pairs a guest worker program for foreigners with border security enforcement, an attempt to satisfy both his business supporters, who believe foreign workers help the economy, and his conservative backers, who take a hard line on illegal immigration.

In Tucson, the president aimed his remarks at those conservatives, emphasizing his proposals to secure the border, remove people who enter the country illegally and strengthen enforcement of immigration laws.

"Our responsibility is clear, we are going to protect the border," Mr. Bush said.

Mr. Bush emphasized expanding a policy of returning Mexican immigrants — who make up 85 percent of all illegal immigrants in the United States — to their hometowns in the interior of the country, making it harder for them to return all the way to the border. He also advocated ending the "catch and release" policy for non-Mexican illegal immigrants, which releases immigrants and asks them to return for a court date — many never do.

"The practice of catch and release is an unwise policy and we are going to end it," Mr. Bush said.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., asked Mr. Bush in a letter Monday to encourage bipartisan and realistic reforms to immigration laws.

"Enforcement alone does not work. Unless we address the gap between our immigration laws and reality, illegal immigration will not stop and the situation on the border will continue to be chaotic," Reid said.

The Democrat implored the president to "stand up to the right wing of your party and stand up for what is right" by taking more than an enforcement-only approach to illegal immigration.

Mr. Bush's two-day push on border security and immigration comes a month after he signed a $32 billion homeland security bill for 2006 that contains large increases for border protection, including 1,000 additional Border Patrol agents.

Mr. Bush has been urging Congress to act on a guest worker program for more than a year. Under his plan, undocumented aliens 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.

The guest worker program has met some resistance in Congress, where several bills on the issue have been introduced.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., along with Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., has proposed providing illegal aliens 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 aliens to return to their home country to apply for a temporary worker program.

Senate GOP leaders plan to take up legislation early next year that will address a guest worker program. Their counterparts in the House have indicated they want to take up border security first and then move to a guest worker program.

While in Arizona on Monday, the president also planned to attend a fund-raiser in Phoenix for Kyl as campaigning for next year's congressional elections gets under way.