WASHINGTON — Even as President Bush stresses his commitment to reworking the nation's immigration laws, some key supporters on the issue say it is so politically divisive that they doubt he can achieve his goal, given the administration's ambitious agenda.
In interviews last week, Bush insisted he would pursue legislation that would legalize some of the estimated 8 million undocumented immigrants in the United States by granting them temporary worker status. Under his plan, illegal immigrants could apply for legal status and, if they qualified, could stay in the country for as long as six years.
Some conservative Republicans have denounced the plan as a form of amnesty, and say it would encourage illegal immigration. But Bush has said he would deal with the problem of illegal immigrants in a humane way. And he has linked the plan to national security.
"It's a big, important issue because there are millions of people here" illegally, Bush told the Wall Street Journal. "I happen to believe that a reform of the legal system, a guest worker program, for better lack of a word ... will help border security."
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), an outspoken advocate of immigration reform, has said that Bush convinced him during a recent meeting that the president was serious about pursuing legislation this session. McCain is working with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, the Senate's key Democratic player on the issue, to try to develop bipartisan legislation.
But several immigrant advocacy groups, labor unions and lawmakers who would be involved in such an initiative say the White House has not reached out to them to produce a bill that could overcome opposition among some Republicans and win the necessary support to pass. Some take that as a sign that the administration is going to spotlight other priorities -- including overhauling Social Security and the tax system -- this year.
Bush occasionally promoted his immigration plan during his reelection campaign, but it was not an issue he stressed.
"The president has done this before," said Michele Waslin, director of immigration policy research for the National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Latino civil rights organization. "Last year he made a speech about immigration reform, then we didn't see anything.... I don't know why it would be different now."
Sen. Larry E. Craig (R-Idaho) was similarly skeptical.
