President Bush has angered conservatives in Arizona and seriously damaged his chances for re-election by introducing on Wednesday a Temporary Worker Program for illegal aliens. The president went before the nation Wednesday for a nationally-televised address on immigration reform.

Arizona conservatives are roundly condemning the president's actions and claiming a disconnect between the White House/Republican Party leadership and the GOP's conservative base.

The Temporary Worker Program

The president said: "For the first time in our history, we have consolidated all border agencies under one roof to make sure they share information and the work is more effective. We're matching all visa applicants against an expanded screening list to identify terrorists and criminals and immigration violators. This month, we have begun using advanced technology to better record and track aliens who enter our country -- and to make sure they leave as scheduled. We have deployed new gamma and x-ray systems to scan cargo and containers and shipments at ports of entry to America. We have significantly expanded the Border Patrol -- with more than a thousand new agents on the borders, and 40 percent greater funding over the last two years. We're working closely with the Canadian and Mexican governments to increase border security. America is acting on a basic belief: our borders should be open to legal travel and honest trade; our borders should be shut and barred tight to criminals, to drug traders, to drug traffickers and to criminals, and to terrorists.

Bush said new immigration laws "should serve the economic needs of our country. If an American employer is offering a job that American citizens are not willing to take, we ought to welcome into our country a person who will fill that job." New laws should provide incentives for temporary, foreign workers to return permanently to their home countries after their period of work in the United States has expired, the president said.

"Today, I ask the Congress to join me in passing new immigration laws that reflect these principles, that meet America's economic needs, and live up to our highest ideals.I propose a new temporary worker program that will match willing foreign workers with willing American employers, when no Americans can be found to fill the jobs. This program will offer legal status, as temporary workers, to the millions of undocumented men and women now employed in the United States, and to those in foreign countries who seek to participate in the program and have been offered employment here. This new system should be clear and efficient, so employers are able to find workers quickly and simply."

The Bush program requires participants to have a job, or, if not living in the United States, a job offer. The legal status granted by this program will last three years and won't be renewable -- but it will have an end. Participants who do not remain employed, who do not follow the rules of the program, or who break the law will not be eligible for continued participation and will be required to return to their home.

Pres. Bush said, "Under my proposal, employers have key responsibilities. Employers who extend job offers must first make every reasonable effort to find an American worker for the job at hand. Our government will develop a quick and simple system for employers to search for American workers. Employers must not hire undocumented aliens or temporary workers whose legal status has expired. They must report to the government the temporary workers they hire, and who leave their employ, so that we can keep track of people in the program, and better enforce immigration laws. There must be strong workplace enforcement with tough penalties for anyone, for any employer violating these laws."

Undocumented workers in the U.S. now will have to pay a one-time fee to register for the temporary worker program. Those joining the program from abroad and who have complied with U.S. immigration laws will not pay a fee. All participants will receive a temporary worker card that will allow them to travel back and forth between their home and the United States without fear of being denied re-entry into the U.S.

Temporary workers are supposed to return permanently to their home countries after their period of work in the United States has expired. Bush said he'll work with foreign governments on a plan to give temporary workers credit when they enter their own nation's retirement system. "I also support making it easier for temporary workers to contribute a portion of their earnings to tax-preferred savings accounts, money they can collect as they return to their native countries," he said.

Arizona Congressman Jeff Flake, who along with Arizona Congressman Jim Kole and Arizona Sen. John McCain, has co-sponsored a highly controversial guest worker bill, was one of three congressmen singled out Wednesday by the president. The others were Utah Congressman Chris Cannon and Idaho Sen. Larry Craig.

Arizona Reactions
 

Three regional coordinators for the Protect Arizona Now (PAN) ballot initiative criticized the president's plan.

 

Iris Lynch, PAN coordinator for Southern Arizona, said: "There seems no doubt that American citizens are fully aware this day where they stand in the estimation of their President. Since when is it the policy of our country to put the wants and needs of foreign powers before the needs of the citizens of the United States? It is the American taxpaying citizen who supplies the dollars to keep the government engine alive. As of today, all citizens will want to rethink the benefits being heaped on non-citizens at their expense to the detriment of our nation and its legacy."

 

Ron Gould, PAN coordinator for Mohave County, said, "I am upset that President Bush would hold his supporters hostage, knowing that we will not vote for a Democrat candidate. He thinks that he is pandering to Hispanic voters, but I believe that Americans of Hispanic heritage agree that illegal immigration is a problem. I hope that the votes he picks up will replace the ones he will lose with this stunt."

 

Russ Dove, the PAN coordinator for Greater Tucson, also disapproves of the president's plan.

 

"Now my President wants me to be happy living with a class of people who know nothing of my heritage, speak another language, are here in violation of the law, and are now going to be rewarded for breaking the law. I'm really supposed to believe that they will become law abiding citizens. Human nature says it is just not going to happen!  I am not happy with the value that President Bush and the current local, county, state and federal administrations place on my USA citizenship. The people in question are here by some other way then the legal way they are in violation of the law, and if what President Bush said today is the new system, he is giving them amnesty."

Dove said that from the beginning of U.S. history to a period beginning about 25 years ago, immigrants came to this country and earned their citizenship after learning our language, our history and our laws. "It was then that history shows immigrants were major contributors to our great nation," he said. "Those immigrants who are here illegally today do nothing but devalue the citizenship of those who paid the price."

A longtime Republican Party precinct committeeman, Carol Turoff, said she received calls Wednesday from staunch Republicans saying they planned to sit out the 2004 presidential election. This could seriously hurt Bush's chances of winning the state and its eight electoral votes.

"If these people are 'guests' we need to hide the silverware," Turoff said, referring to the fact that illegal aliens are lawbreakers, no different from burglars illegally entering our homes.

 

The president is guaranteed to run into congressional resistance. Arizona congressman J.D. Hayworth is one of nearly three dozen congressmen signing a recent letter of opposition to the president. Hayworth is a member of the Immigration Reform Caucus,  currently reviewing immigration policy. And the president's administration is vigorously opposing at least one congressman who insists on strict border controls.

Karl Rove, senior advisor to the president, is actively seeking a challenger to oppose Colorado Republican Cong. Tom Tancredo in the Nov. election. Tancredo won re-election with 70-percent support in 2002 and is being encouraged by many conservatives to run for president. Tancredo, who has been called the congressman after southern Arizona's own heart for his insistence on border control, will address the Arizona Republican Assembly Jan. 17 at 9:45 a.m. at Scottsdale Civic Center Library Auditorium (3839 N. Drinkwater Blvd, Scottsdale). His speech is titled, "Immigration Reform: Securing Jobs and the Benefits of Citizenship." To RSVP for the Tancredo speech, contact Gene Reed (602) 274-9674 or Barbara Blewster (928) 632-1163.

 

Rep. Tancredo told the Associated Press Wednesday that Bush's "dangerous and unworkable" proposals will be rejected by Congress. "Neither Mexicans nor anyone else will go through the hassle and paperwork of seeking legal jobs as long as the border is porous and employers can ignore the laws with impunity," he said.

A congressional defeat of the president's Temporary Worker Program may be the only thing that will prevent many Arizona conservatives from sitting out the 2004 presidential election.