Bush guest worker proposal raises hopes, but leaves many questions

Published: 2004-01-08

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A new guest worker proposal by President Bush may address some of the goals of Catholic and other immigrant advocates, but they say they are worried about the lack of details on his plan. Bush on Jan. 7 announced a proposal for allowing temporary workers from other countries to be admitted to the United States to take jobs which employers cannot fill with people already in the country. The plan would include giving at least some of the estimated 8 million or more illegal immigrants already in the United States permission to stay here temporarily, as long as employers demonstrate a need for their labor. Advocates who work with immigrants raised doubts about whether Bush's proposals will turn into the legislation necessary to make them happen, and whether anyone besides large employers and their workers would really benefit. The chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Migration, Coadjutor Bishop Thomas G. Wenski of Orlando, Fla., praised Bush's decision to bring up the issue of immigration again with his proposal and his plans to renew bilateral migration talks with the government of Mexico. In a Jan. 8 statement, he commended the president for acknowledging the need for worker protections and his call for the government to issue more "green cards" or permanent resident visas. Bush's proposal, however, "does not provide a solution to the serious problems we experience as the result of continued undocumented migration and an immigration system that is broken."

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