This biased AP report deserves a fisking, but for now let's just concentrate on this bit of news:

Struggling to pacify his party's warring wings, President Bush is moving toward allowing illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. before February 2004 to qualify for guest-worker visas. People smuggled in after then would be deported...

Bush and his advisers [sic] are caught between their supporters in the business sector, who believe the economy needs those workers, and conservatives whose priority is to clamp down on illegal immigration. The White House hopes to have a detailed proposal to Congress in late September or early October...

According to administration and congressional officials who took part in a series of White House meetings this summer, Bush does not favor requiring illegal immigrants to be sent home to apply for the visas.

In a nod to his conservative base, however, the president has rejected a part of the McCain-Kennedy bill that the White House believes would put illegal immigrants on an automatic track to citizenship, the officials said.

The officials said it was unclear how many illegal immigrants came after February 2004 or how many later had children in the U.S., conferring U.S. citizenship on those babies. The White House wants to avoid a surge of illegal immigrants who would try to beat a prospective deadline, they said...

From construction companies in Arizona to farmers in the Midwest and California, many industries need those cheap and available workers...

Depending on how Hispanics react, this fall's immigration debate could help determine whether Democrats or Republicans dominate the fastest-growing voting bloc in years to come.

The issue threatens to divide Democrats. Affluent, well-educated liberals are embracing immigration as part of cultural diversity. But poor Democrats, including blacks, are wary of Hispanics' growing economic and political clout...

The White House may take the unusual step of writing the legislation or submitting specific language to Congress.

Parts of this article were also featured in "More McCain immigration quotes".