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President Bush's proposal for a guest worker program as a way of addressing illegal immigration is gaining support from Gov. Mitch Daniels, but doubts from officials with agencies that work with northwestern Indiana's growing immigrant population. Bush's desire for a guest worker program has been stalled in Congress since he proposed it while running for re-election, although at least two competing bills would establish temporary worker visas. He made immigration the subject of his weekly radio address Saturday and addressed the issue during appearances in Arizona and Texas last week, saying it will top his legislative agenda next year. "These...

WE NOW KNOW WHAT WAS behind President Bush's mysterious refusal for so many months to respond to Democratic attacks on his Iraq policy--a refusal that came at great political cost to himself and to the American effort in Iraq. It wasn't that Bush was too focused on Social Security reform to bother. Nor did he believe Iraq was a drag on his presidency and should be downplayed. Rather, Bush had made a conscious decision after his reelection to be "nonpolitical" on the subject of Iraq. It is a decision he now regrets. And has reversed. Here's how a senior White...

WASHINGTON - President Bush is stepping up pressure on Congress to embrace his plan for a guest worker plan for foreigners while talking tough about illegal immigration and a need for secure U.S. borders. "Those who enter the country illegally break the law," Bush said Saturday in his weekly radio address. "In communities near our border, illegal immigration strains the resources of schools, hospitals and law enforcement. And it involves smugglers and gangs that bring crime to our neighborhoods. Faced with this serious challenge our government's responsibility is clear. We're going to protect our borders." This week, the president made...

  For Immediate ReleaseDecember 3, 2005 President's Radio Address      Audio      THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Earlier this week I visited Arizona and Texas to observe firsthand our efforts to protect our southwest border. And I met with customs and border protection agents who are working tirelessly to enforce our laws and keep our borders secure. Illegal immigration and border security are issues that concern Americans. We're a nation built on the rule of law, and those who enter the country illegally break the law. In communities near our border illegal immigration strains the resources of schools, hospitals, and law enforcement....

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Thursday that a temporary worker program for migrants who want jobs in the United States and stronger sanctions against employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers are critical to improved border security. Chertoff said the government has "no other choice" but to develop a legal channel that will match willing migrants with U.S. employers in order to relieve the strain on the Border Patrol and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau. House Republicans in particular are bitterly divided on whether border security reforms should include a temporary worker program. "If we don't have a temporary...

George W. Bush has had a good week. Just how good it turns out to be depends on how good he wants it to be. He started the week on the border in the West, at last addressing the domestic subject most on the minds of everyone else. He talked semi-tough on immigration, promising, finally, to take seriously the bleeding border with Mexico. Then he lapsed into his familiar rhapsody about the amnesty that he won't call an amnesty. But his speech to the Class of '06 at the U.S. Naval Academy about what must be done in Iraq was...

WASHINGTON -- On the day before President Bush launched his new border security/guest worker proposal, he was almost upstaged by a timely and telling U.S. Border Patrol complaint: The labels on their uniforms read "Made in Mexico."

The issue splits both parties, forcing Bush to build an unusual coalition in push for reform plan. WASHINGTON - When George W. Bush spoke out for immigration reform early this week, he probably knew he was reaching into a hornet's nest. But by all accounts, this incendiary issue lies near the president's heart - going back to his days as governor of a border state, Texas - and thus it remains a focus of his second term, even as some analysts pronounce his effort moribund. Political observers also declare his Social Security plan dead, but with immigration there's a key...

WASHINGTON - From building a fence to keep them out to passing a law to help them stay, members of Congress have lots of ideas on how to respond to President Bush's challenge to take on the problem of illegal immigrants. There's a will to act but so far not much consensus. The first stab at the problem could come in the next two weeks, when the House may vote on legislation to strengthen border security. That's the easiest of the three legs of immigration reform. The others, enforcing workplace hiring rules and setting up a guest-worker program that might...

PHOENIX -- The president's plan for an expanded guest worker program is really amnesty for those who broke the law by coming here illegally, Congressman J.D. Hayworth said Tuesday. Hayworth criticized the call Monday by President Bush to make a new guest worker program part of any plan to deal with the problems of illegal border crossers. The six-term Republican congressman said new programs should not even be considered until the border is secure. Bush wants not only to expand existing programs but also to allow those here illegally to remain for up to six years if they already are...

WASHINGTON, NOVEMBER 30: Amid opposition from his republican party to any programme that will 'regularise' millions of illegal aliens, President George W Bush has advocated his temporary guest worker programme while also favouring a hardened border with Mexico. The President's tight ropewalk on a touchy political issue came as 75 per cent of Americans in one poll opined that the government was not doing enough to protect the borders. at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, yesterday, Bush portrayed his proposed temporary worker programme as a way to relieve pressure on enforcement by bringing illegal immigrants "out of the...

Shadegg lobbies, Bush shifts By Patrick O’Connor Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) sent the White House a list in mid-October outlining 22 concerns the administration should address before pushing a comprehensive guest-worker overhaul. The list was compiled during a series of Unity Dinners Shadegg convened throughout the fall to debate the contentious issue of immigration reform within the Republican Conference. Many of those 22 concerns were included in the comprehensive reform plan President Bush outlined Monday. In focusing on increased border enforcement, Bush has shifted gears significantly from the guest-worker overhaul he outlined almost two years ago, and the regular dialogue...

The late Democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan called it "boob bait for bubba" — tough-sounding rhetoric designed to placate conservative voters. Moynihan applied the phrase to Bill Clinton's 1992 pledge to "end welfare as we know it," which it later became clear that he had no intention of following through on when he became president (eventually, Republicans pressured him into it). President Bush is offering his own "boob bait" in the form of speechifying at the border about a crackdown on illegal immigration. It's not that Bush doesn't intend to use better technology to police the border and end the...

PRESIDENT George Bush has proposed offering the estimated 13 million illegal immigrants in the US three-year guest-worker visas. Mr Bush said his plan did not amount to an amnesty for illegal migrants, almost 1 million of whom are estimated to enter the US from Mexico each year. In a speech in Tucson, Arizona, near the Mexican border, he said illegal immigration was "a serious challenge and our responsibility is clear — to protect the border. "The American people should not have to choose between a welcoming society and a lawful society," he said. "We can have both at the same...

Californians on both sides of the immigration debate decried President Bush's speech Monday as insufficient and called for a more comprehensive plan to deal with illegal immigrants and border security. Bush outlined a guest-worker program that would allow migrants to work in the United States in three-year stretches, proposed tougher border enforcement and vowed to work with Congress to reform immigration laws. He made the pitches in a speech in Tucson, Ariz., and is scheduled to talk about immigration again today in El Paso, Texas. As in California, immigration is an issue of concern for many residents in those border...

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;

Yesterday, George W. Bush strode to a podium in Tucson, Arizona (I love Tucson!) and against a backdrop of law enforcement officers, announced his latest plan to crack down on illegal aliens. There was nothing in his speech we haven't heard before, and his new immigration policy is just as contradictory as the old one. Among the initiatives announced: We should build more jail cells to hold illegal aliens. Good idea. The speeding up of deportations, a crackdown on fraudulent identity papers, and a hardening of the border with more surveillance. So far, so good. Then the nonsense started to...

President Bush is a man on a mission this week. He is seeking to reinvigorate his leadership and rehabilitate his public standing by addressing an issue of enormous import to the country and of no less concern to its citizens: the insecurity of our borders and the dysfunction of our immigration policies. It remains to be seen whether Mr. Bush will benefit politically from his visits to border states and meetings with those charged with protecting them and the rest of us from illegal aliens - many of whom are looking for economic opportunity, but some of whom may well...

Speaking at Davis-Monthan AFB in Arizona, Bush is once again talking about immigration reform and more importantly making our borders secure. This is an issue where everyone has an opinion, but congress needs to sit down and figure this out now. In the recent Homeland Security bill, money was given to the border patrol to increase personnel and build better barriers, but it is not enough. Immigration reform and secure borders are two issues that need to be looked at as one. We need to control our borders before we can put into place any policy that allows non citizens...

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- 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...