There was not much detail in the plan President Bush announced last week to fix this country's broken immigration system. But one thing Bush was very specific about -- that he does not want his proposal to be an "amnesty" for illegal immigrants -- drew near-universal criticism from Latino civil rights advocates.
They may want to reconsider.
Amnesty for the estimated 8 million to 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States could be the deal breaker that keeps Congress from enacting any kind of reform, even the common sense "guest worker" program Bush envisions.
Saying he wants to "match willing foreign workers with willing American employers," Bush would grant undocumented workers already in this country -- and those abroad who can prove they have a job waiting for them in the United States -- temporary legal status for three to six years. At the end of that period, they could opt to join the long line of foreigners who apply to become permanent legal residents, or return home. Among the incentives Bush believes will encourage them to leave is the right to claim money they paid into retirement accounts or tax-deferred plans once they are back in their homelands.
Bush's plan includes many of the ideas his administration was discussing with the Mexican government before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. Those ideas made sense then and still do, given the fact that most economists and demographers agree that continued economic growth in this country will require some immigrant labor to fill the low-wage or dead-end jobs that an aging and well-educated U.S. work force does not find attractive.
But just because an idea makes sense doesn't mean Congress will quickly enact it. This is the case here, given how complex and contentious debates over immigration policy are, and how the last immigration reform measure signed by a Republican president worked out for the GOP.
That's why the word "amnesty" stirs up so much emotion. When Latinos and immigrant-rights activists use the word, they usually are referring to a specific program: the legalization provisions in the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act signed into law by President Reagan. That amnesty was designed to make an otherwise restrictionist law -- making it illegal to hire undocumented workers and increasing the size and budget of the Border Patrol among other things -- palatable to Latinos and, more important, to liberals in Congress.
