Bush's Immigration Plan Falls Flat

Today, editorial boards across the country came to the conclusion that President Bush's address last night and his immigration plan lack specifics. Even Bush's senior advisor, Karl Rove admits that the Administration is doing a "heck of a job" on illegal immigration, using a phrase that President Bush has made a "national shorthand for incompetence." [Washington Post, 05/16/06] Conservative Republicans in Congress, Republican governors as well as conservative activists also remain divided and continue to attack comprehensive immigration reform.

Instead of providing a detailed, long-term solution for comprehensive immigration reform, the President offered a PR campaign that included a hasty plan to send our already stretched National Guard to the border and failed to stand up to the extreme right-wing in his party who want to criminalize immigrants, families, doctors and even clergy. The American people deserve a clear agenda, not more sound bites.

EDITORIAL BOARDS: BUSH PLAN VAGUE AND "SLAP DASH"

Los Angeles Times: Bush Speech "Vague" And Lacked "Specifics." "The most important message in President Bush's frequently eloquent prime-time address Monday also was the most vague: 'An immigration reform bill needs to be comprehensive, because all elements of this problem must be addressed together, or none of them will be solved at all.' The president's chances of goading a divided Congress into action before the Memorial Day recess rest largely on whether he can convince wary members of his party that the enhanced border-security measures he described must go hand in hand with legalizing millions of illegal residents and with creating a guest worker program for future migrants. There can be no meaningful security, as he said, when at least 11 million people live 'beyond the reach and protection of American law'; nor can enforcement alone discourage eager workers from emigrating. Bush's speech contained a lot of the right words, as usual on this issue, but (again as usual) the specifics were not quite there." [Los Angeles Times, Editorial, 5/16/06]

Newsday: National Guard Already Stretched Too Thin; Bush Must Show Leadership. "But the National Guard is spread thin with duties in Iraq and responding to natural disaster at home. Additional duties on the border may be too much to ask. Bush said the deployment would be temporary, just until more border agents can be hired and trained. But it's difficult to know how long that will take and how much it will cost. Although using troops at the borders isn't unprecedented, Congress has to weigh its impact on relations with Mexico. The nation needs Bush to lead the way to immigration laws that are pragmatic and enforceable. It won't be easy, given the disconnect between the House and the Senate. The House bill passed in December would erect a 700-mile fence along the border with Mexico and would make it a felony to be in the country illegally. The Senate is moving toward a guest worker program and a path to eventual citizenship for the 12 million people here illegally. It's hard to avoid the sense that Republicans chose this moment to push immigration reform in order to divert attention from Iraq, deficits and Katrina, where Bush and the Republican congressional majority are taking a beating." [Newsday, Editorial, 5/16/06]

Denver Post: Bush Has Ignored Illegal Immigration; Bush Plan "Put Together With Slap-Dash Haste." "Illegal immigration has probably doubled since President Bush entered the White House. Interlopers, now as many as 12 million, have created an inexpensive labor supply for large parts of the nation's business base - but while the president has been emphasizing a guest worker initiative, their increasing ranks have provoked opponents to demand tough steps to seal the Mexican border. Seeking to satisfy immigration opponents in his own party, President Bush has roused himself from his Rip Van Winkle nap. Last night he introduced a border security plan that will enlist as many as 6,000 members of the National Guard.... The White House plan was put together with slap-dash haste, and we worry that that its ramifications have not been fully explored. National Guard units already are stressed by extended deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan." [Denver Post, Editorial, 5/16/06]

USA Today: Bush Offered No Details On Specifics Or Costs. "In his speech, Bush outlined an appealing blueprint for dealing with the two major elements of the immigration problem: stemming illegal immigration, mostly from Mexico, and dealing effectively but compassionately with those already here. It was the kind of vision that years of governing in Texas can inspire. But it is also a plan that recalls failed reforms of the past. Those plans failed not because they were bad ideas, but because the Congresses and presidents who put them forth never provided the means to make them work. They did so knowingly. And that failing again appears to be at work in the president's plan. As is Bush's habit, he offered no plan to pay for his ambitions, nor any estimate of the cost, which would be substantial." [USA Today, Editorial, 5/16/06, emphasis added]

Austin American-Statesman: Bush Speech A "Sop To His Conservative Critics." "On Monday night, President Bush tried again to address the illegal immigration issue by forcefully calling for the deployment of National Guard troops along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexican border. With the president's approval ratings sliding into virtually uncharted territory, a troop deployment along the border is a sop to his conservative critics. They have criticized his call for a guest-worker program as insufficiently tough when it comes to curbing illegal immigration. Stemming the tide of illegal immigration won't depend on the toughest strategy, but the most effective one ... and a military solution to a domestic problem isn't the most effective way to go about it." [Austin American-Statesman, Editorial, 5/16/06]

CONSERVATIVES REMAIN DIVIDED

Republican Senators Criticized The Bush Plan

Senator Jeff Sessions: Bush's Plan Will Not Change System; American People Know It. Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama, warned that Bush's efforts would not appease conservative critics. "A few steps, including calling out the National Guard, significant though they may be, will not change the pervasive illegality of our current immigration system to one that works," said Sessions. "And the American people know it." [New York Times, 5/16/06]

Senator Arlen Specter: We Need To Be Careful With The National Guard. Senator Arlen Specter, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said "on the possible use of the National Guard, we will have to legislate carefully to circumscribe the Guard's duties so we don't get them involved in law enforcement or activities which are inappropriate." [Miami Herald, 5/16/06]

House Republicans Criticized The Bush Plan

House Majority Whip Roy Blunt: "I Have Real Concerns." House Majority Leader Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican, said, "I have real concerns about moving forward with a guest- worker program or a plan to address those currently in the United States illegally until we have adequately addressed our serious border-security problems." [Bloomberg, 5/16/06]

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman, Peter King: "Rather Have No Bill Than a Bad Bill." Representative Peter King of New York, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said he would "rather have no bill than a bad bill," while criticizing Bush's guest-worker proposal. [Bloomberg, 5/16/06]

Rep. Walter Jones: Bush Just Trying to Appease Conservatives...Won't Work. Representative Walter Jones, a North Carolina Republican, said that Bush, by proposing a National Guard deployment, is "just trying to get a bill passed and appease the conservatives somewhat." Jones said, "To me, this is like, 'Well, look what I'm doing for you now, pass my bill.'" [Bloomberg, 5/16/06]

Rep. Tom Tancredo: Bush Has No House Republican Support. "Right now, I do not believe there is support in the House, on the Republican side, for any amnesty program," said Representative Tom Tancredo, a Colorado Republican and an opponent of Bush's immigration proposal. [Bloomberg, 5/16/06]

Republican Governors Criticized The President's Plan

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger: National Guard Plan "Not Right Way to Go." Arnold Schwarzenegger, Republican Governor of California, cautioned that the White House's National Guard plan "is maybe not the right way to go." He said "the federal government should put up the money to create the kind of protection the federal government is responsible to provide." Schwarzenegger said he does not believe border protection is an appropriate role for the National Guard. California has thousands of Guard troops in Iraq and might need them in case of earthquakes, floods or other emergencies, Schwarzenegger said, "So if you have 6,000 in Iraq and send another 6,000 to the border, what do we have left?" said Schwarzenegger. [Washington Times, 5/15/06; Bloomberg, 5/15/06; Boston Globe, 5/15/06; Seattle Post Intelligencer, 5/16/06]

Governor Rick Perry: "Hell No" to "Federalization of National Guard Troops." Governor Rick Perry of Texas said he would welcome additional federal resources to help secure Texas' border with Mexico, but he said any attempt to federalize the state's National Guard units would be met with solid resistance. "What the president heard very clearly back four months ago was not only no, but hell no, from the standpoint of federalization of National Guard troops," Perry said. [Star Telegram, 5/15/06]

Conservative Activists Also Upset

Conservative Radio Host, Rush Limbaugh: Bush's Plan "Window Dressing." According to the Los Angeles Times, "Asserting that Bush was trying to appeal to Latinos at the expense of his political base, Limbaugh dismissed Bush's plan to dispatch National Guard troops to the border with Mexico as mere 'window dressing' that would have little effect on stemming illegal immigration. 'They'll be down there for a few weeks. They'll go home,' Limbaugh said. 'The border will be open as usual.'" [Los Angeles Times, 5/16/06]

Conservative Activist, Richard A. Viguerie: Bush Has Exhausted His Reservoir Of Good Faith Conservatives: They Are Tuning the President Out. Viguerie, a longtime conservative activist, issued a statement denouncing Bush's "liberal" immigration policies. "When President Bush says to his supporters, 'Trust me on immigration,' he has exhausted his reservoir of good faith with conservatives," Viguerie said. "Americans, especially conservatives, are beginning to tune the president out." [Los Angeles Times, 5/16/06]