    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book I)]
    [January 7, 2004]
    [Pages 14-18]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Immigration Reform
    January 7, 2004

        Thanks for coming. Thanks for the warm welcome. Thanks for joining
    me as I make this important announcement, an announcement that I believe
    will make America a more compassionate and more humane and stronger
    country.
        I appreciate members of my Cabinet who have joined me today,
    starting with our Secretary of State, Colin Powell. I'm honored that our Attorney General, John
    Ashcroft, has joined us; Secretary of Commerce
    Don Evans; Secretary Tom Ridge of the Department of Homeland Security, I'm honored
    you're here; el embajador de Mexico, Tony Garza. I thank all the other members of my administration who
    have joined us today.
        I appreciate the Members of Congress who have taken time to come:
    Senator Larry Craig, Congressman Chris
    Cannon, and Congressman Jeff Flake. I'm honored you all have joined us. Thank you for
    coming.
        I appreciate the members of citizen groups who have joined us today:
    chairman of the Hispanic Alliance for Progress, Manny Lujan; Gil Moreno, the president
    and CEO of the Association for the Advancement of Mexican Americans;
    Roberto de Posada, the president of the
    Latino Coalition; and Hector Flores, the
    president of LULAC. Thank you all for joining us.
        Many of you here today are Americans by choice, and you have
    followed in the path of millions. And over the generations, we have
    received energetic, ambitious, optimistic people from every part of the
    world. By tradition and conviction, our country is a welcoming society.
    America is a stronger and better nation because of the hard work and the
    faith and the entrepreneurial spirit of immigrants.
        Every generation of immigrants has reaffirmed the wisdom of
    remaining open to the talents and dreams of the world. And every
    generation of immigrants has reaffirmed our ability to assimilate
    newcomers, which is one of the defining strengths of America.
        During one great period of immigration, between 1891 and 1920, our
    Nation received some 18 million men, women, and children from other
    nations. The hard work of these immigrants helped make our economy the
    largest in the world. The children of immigrants put on the uniform and
    helped to liberate the lands of their ancestors. One of the primary
    reasons America became a great power in the 20th century is because we
    welcomed the talent and the character and the patriotism of immigrant
    families.
        The contributions of immigrants to America continue. About 14
    percent of our

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    Nation's civilian workforce is foreign-born. Most begin their working
    lives in America by taking hard jobs and clocking long hours in
    important industries. Many immigrants also start businesses, taking the
    familiar path from hired labor to ownership.
        As a Texan, I have known many immigrant families, mainly from
    Mexico, and I have seen what they add to our country. They bring to
    America the values of faith in God, love of family, hard work, and self-
    reliance, the values that made us a great nation to begin with. We've
    all seen those values in action, through the service and sacrifice of
    more than 35,000 foreign-born men and women currently on active duty in
    the United States military. One of them is Master Gunnery Sergeant
    Guadalupe Denogean, an immigrant from
    Mexico who has served in the Marine Corps for 25 years and counting.
    Last year, I was honored and proud to witness Sergeant Denogean take the
    oath of citizenship in a hospital where he was recovering from wounds he
    received in Iraq. I'm honored to be his Commander in Chief. I'm proud to
    call him fellow American.
        As a nation that values immigration and depends on immigration, we
    should have immigration laws that work and make us proud. Yet today, we
    do not. Instead, we see many employers turning to the illegal labor
    market. We see millions of hard-working men and women condemned to fear
    and insecurity in a massive undocumented economy. Illegal entry across
    our borders makes more difficult the urgent task of securing the
    homeland. The system is not working. Our Nation needs an immigration
    system that serves the American economy and reflects the American Dream.
        Reform must begin by confronting a basic fact of life and economics:
    Some of the jobs being generated in America's growing economy are jobs
    American citizens are not filling. Yet these jobs represent a tremendous
    opportunity for workers from abroad who want to work and fulfill their
    duties as a husband or a wife, a son or a daughter. Their search for a
    better life is one of the most basic desires of human beings.
        Many undocumented workers have walked mile after mile through the
    heat of the day and the cold of the night. Some have risked their lives
    in dangerous desert border crossings or entrusted their lives to the
    brutal rings of heartless human smugglers. Workers who seek only to earn
    a living end up in the shadows of American life, fearful, often abused
    and exploited. When they are victimized by crime, they are afraid to
    call the police or seek recourse in the legal system. They are cut off
    from their families far away, fearing if they leave our country to visit
    relatives back home, they might never be able to return to their jobs.
        The situation I described is wrong. It is not the American way. Out
    of common sense and fairness, our laws should allow willing workers to
    enter our country and fill jobs that Americans are not filling. We must
    make our immigration laws more rational and more humane. And I believe
    we can do so without jeopardizing the livelihoods of American citizens.
        Our reforms should be guided by a few basic principles. First,
    America must control its borders. Following the attacks of September the
    11th, 2001, this duty of the Federal Government has become even more
    urgent, and we're fulfilling that duty. For the first time in our
    history, we have consolidated all border agencies under one roof to make
    sure they share information and the work is more effective. We're
    matching all visa applicants against an expanded screening list to
    identify terrorists and criminals and immigration violators. This month,
    we have begun using advanced technology to better record and track
    aliens who enter our country and to make sure they leave as scheduled.
    We have deployed new gamma and x-ray systems to scan cargo and
    containers and shipments at ports of entry to America. We have
    significantly expanded the Border Patrol with more than

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    1,000 new agents on the borders and 40 percent greater funding over the
    last 2 years. We're working closely with the Canadian and Mexican
    Governments to increase border security. America is acting on a basic
    belief: Our borders should be open to legal travel and honest trade; our
    borders should be shut and barred tight to criminals, to drug traders--
    to drug traffickers and to criminals and to terrorists.
        Second, new immigration laws should serve the economic needs of our
    country. If an American employer is offering a job that American
    citizens are not willing to take, we ought to welcome into our country a
    person who will fill that job.
        Third, we should not give unfair rewards to illegal immigrants in
    the citizenship process or disadvantage those who came here lawfully or
    hope to do so.
        Fourth, new laws should provide incentives for temporary foreign
    workers to return permanently to their home countries after their period
    of work in the United States has expired.
        Today I ask the Congress to join me in passing new immigration laws
    that reflect these principles, that meet America's economic needs and
    live up to our highest ideals.
        I propose a new temporary-worker program that will match willing
    foreign workers with willing American employers when no Americans can be
    found to fill the jobs. This program will offer legal status as
    temporary workers to the millions of undocumented men and women now
    employed in the United States and to those in foreign countries who seek
    to participate in the program and have been offered employment here.
    This new system should be clear and efficient so employers are able to
    find workers quickly and simply.
        All who participate in the temporary-worker program must have a job
    or, if not living in the United States, a job offer. The legal status
    granted by this program will last 3 years and will be renewable, but it
    will have an end. Participants who do not remain employed, who do not
    follow the rules of the program, or who break the law will not be
    eligible for continued participation and will be required to return to
    their home.
        Under my proposal, employers have key responsibilities. Employers
    who extend job offers must first make every reasonable effort to find an
    American worker for the job at hand. Our Government will develop a quick
    and simple system for employers to search for American workers.
    Employers must not hire undocumented aliens or temporary workers whose
    legal status has expired. They must report to the Government the
    temporary workers they hire and who leave their employ so that we can
    keep track of people in the program and better enforce our immigration
    laws. There must be strong workplace enforcement with tough penalties
    for anyone, for any employer, violating these laws.
        Undocumented workers now here will be required to pay a one-time fee
    to register for the temporary-worker program. Those who seek to join the
    program from abroad and have complied with our immigration laws will not
    have to pay any fee. All participants will be issued a temporary-worker
    card that will allow them to travel back and forth between their home
    and the United States without fear of being denied reentry into our
    country.
        This program expects temporary workers to return permanently to
    their home countries after their period of work in the United States has
    expired, and there should be financial incentives for them to do so. I
    will work with foreign governments on a plan to give temporary workers
    credit, when they enter their own nation's retirement system, for the
    time they have worked in America. I also support making it easier for
    temporary workers to contribute a portion of their earnings to tax-
    preferred savings accounts, money they can collect as they return to
    their native countries. After all, in many of those countries, a small
    nest egg is what is necessary to

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    start their own business or buy some land for their family.
        Some temporary workers will make the decision to pursue American
    citizenship. Those who make this choice will be allowed to apply in the
    normal way. They will not be given unfair advantage over people who have
    followed legal procedures from the start.
        I oppose amnesty, placing undocumented workers on the automatic path
    to citizenship. Granting amnesty encourages the violation of our laws
    and perpetuates illegal immigration. America is a welcoming country, but
    citizenship must not be the automatic reward for violating the laws of
    America.
        The citizenship line, however, is too long, and our current limits
    on legal immigration are too low. My administration will work with the
    Congress to increase the annual number of green cards that can lead to
    citizenship. Those willing to take the difficult path of citizenship,
    the path of work and patience and assimilation, should be welcome in
    America like generations of immigrants before them.
        In the process of immigration reform, we must also set high
    expectations for what new citizens should know. An understanding of what
    it means to be an American is not a formality in the naturalization
    process; it is essential to full participation in our democracy. My
    administration will examine the standard of knowledge in the current
    citizenship test. We must ensure that new citizens know not only the
    facts of our history but the ideals that have shaped our history. Every
    citizen of America has an obligation to learn the values that make us
    one Nation: liberty and civic responsibility, equality under God,
    tolerance for others.
        This new temporary-worker program will bring more than economic
    benefits to America. Our homeland will be more secure when we can better
    account for those who enter our country, instead of the current
    situation in which millions of people are unknown, unknown to the law.
    Law enforcement will face fewer problems with undocumented workers and
    will be better able to focus on the true threats to our Nation from
    criminals and terrorists. And when temporary workers can travel legally
    and freely, there will be more efficient management of our borders and
    more effective enforcement against those who pose a true threat to our
    country.
        This new system will be more compassionate. Decent, hard-working
    people will now be protected by labor laws, with the right to change
    jobs, earn fair wages, and enjoy the same working conditions that the
    law requires for American workers. Temporary workers will be able to
    establish their identities by obtaining the legal documents that we all
    take for granted. And they will be able to talk openly to authorities,
    to report crimes when they are harmed, without the fear of being
    deported.
        The best way in the long run to reduce the pressures that create
    illegal immigration in the first place is to expand economic opportunity
    among the countries in our neighborhood. In a few days, I will go to
    Mexico for the special Summit of the Americas, where we will discuss
    ways to advance free trade and to fight corruption and encourage the
    reforms that lead to prosperity. Real growth and real hope in the
    nations of our hemisphere will lessen the flow of new immigrants to
    America when more citizens of other countries are able to achieve their
    dreams at their own home.
        Yet our country has always benefited from the dreams that others
    have brought here. By working hard for a better life, immigrants
    contribute to the life of our Nation. The temporary-worker program I am
    proposing today represents the best tradition of our society, a society
    that honors the law and welcomes the newcomer. This plan will help
    return order and fairness to our immigration system. And in so doing, we
    will honor our values by showing our

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    respect for those who work hard and share in the ideals of America.
        May God bless you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:45 p.m. in the East Room at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Antonio O. Garza, U.S. Ambassador
    to Mexico. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish
    language transcript of these remarks.