"Guest worker program promoted"

From this:

Hours after being named chairman of the Senate subcommittee on immigration, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said he would work on immigration reform that would help legitimize the millions of illegal immigrant workers in the United States.

As head of the Senate Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship, Mr. Cornyn will be responsible for advancing President Bush's immigration reform proposals...

... Mr. Cornyn says he would like to continue a project he started in 2003 to create a guest worker program that would give temporary legal worker status to illegal immigrants in the United States... [...an interview was conducted...]

Question: What are the options?

Answer: During the last 20 years, we've done a very poor job of controlling our borders. In a post-9/11 world, we must do a better job at controlling them. Ten million people are living here outside of our laws. Some people suggest we ought to have massive deportations. But I don't believe that the American people have the stomach for that, nor have we calculated the damage [that would cause] to our economy.

In case you are right now having a case of deja lu, you're probably thinking of "Rounding up all illegals 'not realistic'":

Homeland Security Undersecretary Asa Hutchinson also said taxpayers "might be afraid" to learn how much it would take in manpower and resources to control the nation's borders and described as "probably accurate" a statement that no law-enforcement officials are looking for the vast majority of the 8 million to 12 million illegal aliens thought to be in the country...

"It's not realistic to say we're going to reduce that number... But I don't think America has the will... I think they have too much compassion to tell our law-enforcement people to go out there and uproot those 8 million here..."

Continuing with Cornyn:

Question: What do you think of the role Mexican officials have played in shaping this debate?

Answer: Mexico has been very active on this front. I've enjoyed our meetings with colleagues from the Mexican government. But they need to understand how controversial the subject can be here and not add to controversy...

Not just diplomacy but friendly tips for our "friends" to the south.

Immigration2005a · Tue, 01/18/2005 - 17:59 · · Importance: 1