You Are In: USINFO > Topics > Global Issues > Immigration Reform

Immigration Reform Bill to be Discussed in Congressional Committee

President Bush arrives at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, June 1, 2006. (©AP/WWP)

President Bush said the U.S. Congress is moving forward on immigration reform legislation, with the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate having passed different versions of the legislation that now must be negotiated in a conference committee.

Speaking at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington June 1, Bush said, “The House and Senate bills will require effort and compromise on both sides. It's a difficult task. Yet the difficulty of this task is no excuse for avoiding it.”

Bush called for a comprehensive bill that will help secure U.S. borders, and permit trade and lawful immigration while keeping out illegal immigration, criminals, drug dealers and terrorists.

The president acknowledged that economic conditions in some neighboring countries are motivating many to risk their lives to cross the U.S. border to find work.

“[T]here are people in our neighborhood who are desperate to put food on the table for their families. And if they, say, make $7 in America versus 50 cents where they live, and they want to support their families, … they're going to try to sneak across the border,” he said, even risking their lives by hiking across the desert or being “stuffed in the back of an 18-wheeler.”

The vast majority of illegal immigrants are decent and hardworking, the president said. “They're part of American life and they are vital to our economy, and yet they're beyond the reach and protection of American law.”

However, their presence has put pressure on U.S. schools and hospitals, strained state and local budgets and, in some instances, brought crime.

The United States must “stop the number of people who are trying to sneak across in the first place. And the best way to do that is to make a temporary worker program,” Bush said, adding that such a program “would create a legal path for foreign workers to enter this country in an orderly way for a limited period of time … [and] would match willing foreign workers with willing American employers for jobs Americans are not doing.”

Immigration reform also should target the illegal industry that has developed in response to the pressure to enter the United States. “These are these folks that are willing to use human life as a commodity, to make money off of somebody,” Bush said, such as “coyotes” who smuggle illegal immigrants, document forgers and “unscrupulous” American companies exploiting those who are willing to work for less than the market rate.

“We don't like people living in the shadows of our society. We're a nation of the rule of law, and we want people to be treated with respect,” the president said.

The transcript of the president’s remarks is available on the White House Web site.