Bush and Congress Lay Out Stances on Immigration Talks
"This effort must be bipartisan," says one Hill aide, "for us to be convinced Democrats aren't stepping into a trap just before the 2008 elections."
Still, Bush is betting that even with low popularity figures, his visit to the border can draw some attention to some recent border success stories. Hard-line Republicans in the past have said they might cooperate with the administration if they're convinced the border is more secure.
The Yuma sector of the border—a 118-mile stretch of land that runs from the Imperial Sand Dunes in California through Yuma County in Arizona—has seen the most dramatic drop in the number of arrests of illegal border crossers in recent months. Border Patrol agents had 68 percent fewer arrests in the Yuma sector from October to March 31 than they had in the same period the year before. Those figures are often used as a gauge of the number of people trying to cross.
Bush said though that even with fencing, National Guard troops on the border, and technology like unmanned surveillance drone aircraft, Congress still needs to "take the pressure off the border" by creating a new channel of visas that workers could use to come to the country legally through immigration reform.
"It's important for [Congress] to listen to everyone's position," Bush told the Arizona crowd."And it's important for people not to give up, no matter how difficult it looks from a legislative perspective." That's advice the administration better hope sinks in.
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