Bush Deserves Criticism Not on Katrina but on Immigration

Instead of loudly berating President Bush for the federal response to one of the worst natural disaster in US history (and for situations that were mostly caused by local corruption and incompetence), I would like to point out an area where he does deserve criticism – a lacking and ineffective response to illegal immigration. Illegal immigration is occurring at the rate of about 700,000 per year, and there are now somewhere between 10 and 20 million illegals here in the US now.

We are not even really sure just how many illegals are here now. Pew Research puts the figure at 10.3 million, while a Bear Stearns analysis by Robert Justich and Betty Ng suggests as many as 20 million illegals - roughly the population of New York State are here, and asserts that there are between 12 and 15 million jobs in the U.S. currently held by illegal aliens, or about 8 percent of the work force. No income or social security taxes are collected on most of these under-the-table jobs.

As FRED BARNES said in the Sept. 1, 2005 edition of the WSJ Opinion Journal, "Immigration is the most troublesome issue for Mr. Bush because he is at odds with many Republicans. He is passionately pro-immigrant, while they are fixated on securing America's southern border. The president has little influence on Republicans on immigration and wouldn't have it even if his approval rating were 20 points higher. Instead, congressional Republicans are responding to grassroots pressure to stop the flow of illegal aliens.

There's a solution. By joining his guest-worker plan with beefing up border protection, Mr. Bush and Republicans have a good chance of enacting an immigration bill. In this case, a bipartisan measure supported by Sen. Edward Kennedy could emerge. Sens. Kennedy and John McCain are co-sponsors of an immigration bill that may be closer to Mr. Bush's thinking than a rival bill authored by Sen. Kyl and Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas.”

Brandon Crocker in “The American Spectator”, 2/17/2004, said, "The guest worker program as outlined by Bush would allow illegals who have regular jobs to be eligible for temporary (the proposal is 3 years, renewable) legal status, and would be available to people living outside of the United States who could show that they have a job offer (first offered to existing legal U.S. residents, with no takers).

Certainly, those who are already here and have a job would be guaranteed legal status. But the free market, as efficient as it is, would quickly produce an industry dedicated to matching potential foreign workers with American jobs going wanting -- which would probably be a preferable route for most would-be immigrants than paying high fees to untrustworthy smugglers or risking a trek through the desert, with uncertain results. Seasonal workers (such as in agriculture) could conceivably return to their home countries to live with their families during the off months (instead of trying to smuggle their families into the United States) without the fear that they would have to risk another clandestine border crossing when their work is to resume.”

President Bush proposed a moderate guest worker program that could have gained wide support if backed up by much more effective enforcement of existing laws governing illegal immigration. It is not to his credit that election considerations caused him to emphasize the new legislation without also clamping down on illegal entries on our southern border. Immigration control may become the great issue of the next election. Already southwestern governors have recently taken steps to bring this issue to a boil.