Bush offers ideas on immigration reform

President Bush said comprehensive immigration overhaul must begin with border security and include a guest-worker program and a means for many of the undocumented workers in the United States to gain legal status.

"When immigrants assimilate, they advance in our society, realize their dreams and add to the unity of America," Bush said in his weekly radio address. "We can fix the problem of illegal immigration and deliver an immigration system that is rational and compassionate."

The Republican-controlled Congress remains at an impasse on final legislation because the House passed a measure stressing border security. The Senate passed a broader proposal that is aligned with what the president seeks. Lawmakers are holding public hearings on the proposals throughout the country. Senators this week voted to spend $1.8 billion to build a barrier along portions of the U.S. border with Mexico.

Bush traveled to Mission, Texas, along the Mexican border on Aug. 3 to promote his immigration plan and get a first-hand look at some of the tools Border Patrol agents are using to catch illegal immigrants. The president is at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

The president in a speech in Mission said he won't back away from insisting that any change in immigration laws include both border security and a path to citizenship.

Trying to spur Congress to make progress on the legislation, Bush said that making the border secure doesn't conflict with welcoming the contributions of immigrants.

In his radio address, Bush said the government has deployed 6,000 National Guard Members to assist Border Patrol agents, allowing them to provide more law enforcement.

"Rational and comprehensive immigration reform must begin with border security, and we have more to do," Bush said. "So I've asked Congress to fund dramatic increases in manpower and technology for the Border Patrol. We will add 6,000 new Border Patrol agents."

Democratic Senator Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico said in the weekly Democratic Hispanic radio address that Bush and Republicans in Congress are stalling on immigration legislation.

Bush "has done little to encourage Republican leaders in the House and Senate to send him a fair and balanced bill," Bingaman said today.

Congressional leaders should be trying to resolve differences in competing versions of immigration legislation that passed the House and Senate rather than scheduling more public hearings on the issue, he said.

White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters Aug. 3 that "everybody is working hard."

"There are very active conversations going on, not only with the White House," he said. "Republicans in the House and Senate I think are working towards something that fits the President's description of comprehensive reform."

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