Congress Watch: Immigration policy crafted to lure Hispanic voters
Insiders say President Bush's decision to stick with his controversial guest-worker program for illegal immigrants in his toughened border security proposal is a bow to Hispanic voters worried over other GOP efforts to deal harshly with such immigrants. Officials said the president and his senior staff were concerned that if he turned too far right with his dusted-off proposal it would anger Hispanics and reverse four years of outreach to legal immigrants and newly minted Americans from Central and South America. In his plan outlined early this week, Bush vowed to strengthen the border while maintaining his guest-worker program for foreign workers.
Conservatives like Rep. Tom Tancredo disagree with that approach, saying the program rewards illegal immigrants. But GOP officials today said that they want to avoid Tancredo's tougher proposals because they would ruin the party's bid to woo more Hispanics to the party based on Bush's agenda of "compassionate conservatism."
The officials said they think the latest Bush plan would eliminate the concerns among Hispanics and win more conservatives to his side with his tougher talk against amnesty and broader efforts to secure the border.
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