A Welcome Mat for Guests?
The way some in Washington see it, legislation that allows foreigners to come here temporarily and fill U.S. jobs is crucial to solving the immigration puzzle. For others, it's nothing short of surrender. Either way, the debate over a "guest worker" policy is headed to the top of the Capitol Hill agenda. And it won't be pretty.
The guest worker concept is rooted in the idea that illegal immigrants already hold many entry jobs that Americans don't seem interested in, especially in fields like agriculture, landscaping, and housekeeping. President George W. Bush announced within weeks of his inauguration that he wanted a guest worker program to be part of his legacy. The 9/11 terrorist attacks changed his immediate priorities, but the administration finally sketched a plan in October: Immigrants would be eligible to work in the United States for six years but then would have to return to their home countries for one. No special citizenship deals.
The Senate has its own ideas. A bill sponsored by Republican John McCain and Democrat Edward Kennedy would allow immigrants to apply for guest worker status on U.S. soil while also putting them on a path to legal status if they met certain conditions. A measure sponsored by Republicans John Cornyn and Jon Kyl would have workers go home to get their guest worker papers. A third proposal backed by Republican Chuck Hagel would require workers here to go home to acquire guest worker status only if they'd been in the United States fewer than five years.
There's much less interest in guest worker legislation in the House. In fact, more than a third of the Republicans there are now members of a caucus that is adamantly against it. "The House is getting ready," says Frank Sharry of the National Immigration Forum, a pro-immigration group, "to throw a piece of red meat" to the loudest part of its base.
Heft. Although the Senate bills include beefy border security provisions, many House conservatives are skeptical about the bills' enforcement heft. The House is expected to tackle a border security bill without guest worker provisions between Thanksgiving and Christmas, while the Senate in February will first consider border security before quickly following with a guest worker debate. "The real battle," says Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies, "will happen when they meet in conference."
And the clock will be ticking. As the 2006 midterm elections approach, finding common ground will become difficult. And businesses are also growing impatient. "This must be fixed quickly," says Craig Regelbrugge of the American Nursery and Landscape Organization. Don't bet the farm on it.
This story appears in the November 28, 2005 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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