Rick Dean
Registered
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/0104/...mmigration.html
I think this upcoming election will be the first time in my life where the vote I cast will be one of protest. :angry:
Bush wants to let Mexican workers into U.S.
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- President Bush is proposing that foreign workers be allowed to come to the United States if they have jobs waiting for them -- a move that could hel
repair relations with Mexico and capture Latino voters in this year's election.
Virtually silent on the immigration issue for two years, Bush was working on remarks he planned to make Wednesday
to i
mmigration activists.
White House press secretary Scott McClellan would not say whether the president would announce details or simply a general outline of a proposal to match foreign workers with receptive U.S. employers. There are an
estimated 10 million undocumented workers in the United States, perhaps half from Mexico.
The aim is "matching willing workers with willing employers where there are jobs that Americans are not interested in filling," McClellan said. "It's important that we have a fair immigration policy and an immigration policy that addresses those economic needs."
The announcement comes just before Bush's scheduled meeting with Mexico's President Vicente Fox next week at the Summit of the Americas in Monterey, Mexico. Mexican off
icials have complained that the administration sought their help to improve border security and combat drug trafficking, but failed to respond to pleas for an easing of U.S. immigration policy.
R
ep. Chris Ca
nnon, R-Utah, who has consulted with the administration on the new policy, said the White House is planning a comprehensive policy that won't grant blanket amnesty to immigrants in the country illegally, but will allow them to earn permanent residency.
He said it wil
l seek to make sure every job is filled, but give American workers top priority when filling them.
An official with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said he expected Bush to outline "a path of some sort to legal status."
"We have long supported an expanded guest worker program and targeted earned adjustment for undocumented workers," said Randel Johnson, U.S. Chamber of Commerce vice president.
Johnson defined "earned adjustment" as a program in which "a person comes forw
ard and shows they've worked here three, four, five years. They can show that and they go into a trial period of three more years where they are legal, but have to go through a legal assessment
that shows they can
hold down jobs." If that's achieved they would become eligible for permanent residence, he said.
Bush also is expected to discuss a goal of expanding Social Security agreements with other countries, sources familiar with the plan said, insisting on anonymity.
New agreements, especially with Mexico, would drama
tically increase the number of workers and their families eligible for Social Security benefits, regardless of their legal status. The administration has been considering such an agreement with Mexico for some time.
Current law generally requires workers to have 10 years, or 40 quarters, of work history to receive Social Security retirement benefits. Non-citizens, both legal and illegal, earn the credits.
Totalization agreements let foreign workers co
unt their work history in their native countries toward Social Security benefits. U.S. workers get the same privilege. Agreements also eliminate double taxation, and allow workers and their empl
oyers to pay into just one
retirement system.
The United States already has 20 existing pacts with other countries, including Canada, Italy, Chile, France and South Korea.
But a big concern about an agreement with Mexico is the huge number of workers in the United States and the financial burden it could place on a system that faces major shortfalls
starting in the next 15 years or so.
The Social Security Administration has estimated that an agreement with Mexico could cost $78 million in the first year, and soar to $650 million by 2050. But congressional investigators think those figures could be low.
Mexican officials have argued that the administration used post-Sept. 11 security concerns as an excuse to further tighten movement over the U.S.-Mexican border. Relations were fu
rther strained by Mexico's opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq and Bush's refusal to stop the execution of a Mexican national in Texas.
Details of Bush's proposal have
been sketchy, yet immigration poli
cy groups already are suspicious.
roposals that are more posture than substance will be dismissed as election-year antics," said the National Immigration Forum, which advocates immigration policies that welcome immigrants and refugees.
I think this upcoming election will be the first time in my life where the vote I cast will be one of protest. :angry:
Bush wants to let Mexican workers into U.S.
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- President Bush is proposing that foreign workers be allowed to come to the United States if they have jobs waiting for them -- a move that could hel
repair relations with Mexico and capture Latino voters in this year's election.
Virtually silent on the immigration issue for two years, Bush was working on remarks he planned to make Wednesday
to i
mmigration activists.
White House press secretary Scott McClellan would not say whether the president would announce details or simply a general outline of a proposal to match foreign workers with receptive U.S. employers. There are an
estimated 10 million undocumented workers in the United States, perhaps half from Mexico.
The aim is "matching willing workers with willing employers where there are jobs that Americans are not interested in filling," McClellan said. "It's important that we have a fair immigration policy and an immigration policy that addresses those economic needs."
The announcement comes just before Bush's scheduled meeting with Mexico's President Vicente Fox next week at the Summit of the Americas in Monterey, Mexico. Mexican off
icials have complained that the administration sought their help to improve border security and combat drug trafficking, but failed to respond to pleas for an easing of U.S. immigration policy.
R
ep. Chris Ca
nnon, R-Utah, who has consulted with the administration on the new policy, said the White House is planning a comprehensive policy that won't grant blanket amnesty to immigrants in the country illegally, but will allow them to earn permanent residency.
He said it wil
l seek to make sure every job is filled, but give American workers top priority when filling them.
An official with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said he expected Bush to outline "a path of some sort to legal status."
"We have long supported an expanded guest worker program and targeted earned adjustment for undocumented workers," said Randel Johnson, U.S. Chamber of Commerce vice president.
Johnson defined "earned adjustment" as a program in which "a person comes forw
ard and shows they've worked here three, four, five years. They can show that and they go into a trial period of three more years where they are legal, but have to go through a legal assessment
that shows they can
hold down jobs." If that's achieved they would become eligible for permanent residence, he said.
Bush also is expected to discuss a goal of expanding Social Security agreements with other countries, sources familiar with the plan said, insisting on anonymity.
New agreements, especially with Mexico, would drama
tically increase the number of workers and their families eligible for Social Security benefits, regardless of their legal status. The administration has been considering such an agreement with Mexico for some time.
Current law generally requires workers to have 10 years, or 40 quarters, of work history to receive Social Security retirement benefits. Non-citizens, both legal and illegal, earn the credits.
Totalization agreements let foreign workers co
unt their work history in their native countries toward Social Security benefits. U.S. workers get the same privilege. Agreements also eliminate double taxation, and allow workers and their empl
oyers to pay into just one
retirement system.
The United States already has 20 existing pacts with other countries, including Canada, Italy, Chile, France and South Korea.
But a big concern about an agreement with Mexico is the huge number of workers in the United States and the financial burden it could place on a system that faces major shortfalls
starting in the next 15 years or so.
The Social Security Administration has estimated that an agreement with Mexico could cost $78 million in the first year, and soar to $650 million by 2050. But congressional investigators think those figures could be low.
Mexican officials have argued that the administration used post-Sept. 11 security concerns as an excuse to further tighten movement over the U.S.-Mexican border. Relations were fu
rther strained by Mexico's opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq and Bush's refusal to stop the execution of a Mexican national in Texas.
Details of Bush's proposal have
been sketchy, yet immigration poli
cy groups already are suspicious.
roposals that are more posture than substance will be dismissed as election-year antics," said the National Immigration Forum, which advocates immigration policies that welcome immigrants and refugees.