    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book I)]
    [June 7, 2006]
    [Pages 1089-1096]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Immigration Reform in Omaha, Nebraska
    June 7, 2006

        Thanks for the warm welcome. It's great to be back in Omaha. I'm a
    little--I just wish the timing were a little better--[laughter]--
    Senator. If I'd only delayed my
    trip, we'd have been able to watch the College World Series again.
    [Laughter]
        But I couldn't delay it, for this reason: This country is debating
    an important issue. It's an issue about our soul and our character. It's
    an issue that relates to people that are in our country. It's the
    immigration issue. And I don't think this issue can wait

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    for a baseball game or a baseball tournament; it needs to be addressed
    now. And I'm honored to be here in Omaha, Nebraska, right here in the
    middle of our country, to talk about a vital issue that affects us all.
        Before I came here to give the speech, I went to the Juan Diego
    Center. It's right down the road, if you haven't been there. It's run by
    Catholic Charities. By the way, Catholic Charities is one of the most
    important battalions in the army of compassion. It's full of--
    [applause]--it's a center of love and compassion. It's a place where
    volunteers come to reach out to somebody who could use a little extra
    help, and those volunteers ask nothing in return.
        I saw a place where people are learning to speak English and
    learning the civic lessons of what it means to be an American citizen. I
    sat around a table with entrepreneurs, people from different countries,
    all of whom are bound by a common dream of owning their own business;
    people who are willing to work hard to put food on the table for their
    families and to realize a dream. It was such an inspiring conversation
    for me.
        One such person I met was Salvador Pina.
    He's a new American citizen who had a dream; he wanted to own his own
    business. And Salvador went to the Juan Diego Center and said, ``Can
    anybody here help me?'' For some of us, we take it for granted that it's
    easy to understand what forms to fill out or what worker compensation
    means or how do you pay your sales tax. But for some, they need a little
    extra help. They don't need to be inspired to dream big dreams, but they
    need help to realize those dreams.
        He--Salvador received a $10,000 loan from
    Catholic Charities. That's not exactly a microloan, but it's help. In
    other words, he said, ``Can you help me? I'll work hard for whatever you
    do to help me, but can you give me--lend me a hand, brother?'' And
    Catholic Charities did, and today he owns his own business. He's the
    proud owner of Pina Auto Repair. By the way, if you're looking for a
    good man to fix your car--[laughter]--give old Salvador a chance.
        So what's it like? He said, ``I've been
    working hard.'' I said, ``Do you employ anybody?'' He said, ``Yes, I've
    started with just me, and now I've got three employees.'' That's what
    America is all about, isn't it, one person with a dream helping others
    to provide an employment opportunity. Salvador owns his own building.
    That's what we want in America. We want to encourage an ownership
    society, where a person like Salvador who started with nothing can say,
    ``Welcome to my business, and I own my building; come on into the
    building I own, and here are the three people I'm employing.''
        When you hear people like me talk about assimilation, that's what
    we're talking about, helping people assimilate into America, helping us
    remain one Nation under God. So I want to thank Catholic Charities for
    their good work, and I want to thank a dreamer like Salvador for coming here, obeying the law, and working hard
    to achieve the American Dream.
        When I get back to Washington, I'm going to sign an Executive order
    creating a task force on the new Americas. This task force is going to
    be led by our Secretary of Homeland Security, Chertoff. It's going to work to help people at the grassroots
    level expand the teaching of English and civics and history instruction
    programs to help others assimilate into America.
        We want to--I'm going to create--I've also signed legislation
    creating an Office of Citizenship at the Department of Homeland Security
    to promote knowledge of citizens' rights and responsibilities. In other
    words, one aspect of making sure we have an immigration system that
    works, that's orderly and fair, is to actively reach out and help people
    assimilate into our country. That means, learn the values and history
    and language of America. And for those of you who are wondering how you
    can

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    help our country, volunteer to be a part of such an assimilation
    process, just like the volunteers at Catholic Charities are doing.
        I appreciate the Governor being here. Mr.
    Governor, thank you and Sally for coming.
    You're kind to take time out of your schedule to say hello to the old
    President. [Laughter] Getting older by the minute, by the way.
    [Laughter] I'm not supposed to talk about myself, but in a month, I'm
    turning 60. For you youngsters, I want to tell you something. When I was
    your age, I thought 60 was really old. [Laughter] It's all in your mind.
    It's not that old; it really isn't. Right, Senator Hagel? [Laughter]
        I want to thank Chuck Hagel
    for his leadership on this issue, this immigration issue. You see, you
    can make the choice in Washington, DC, whether you want to be a leader
    or whether you want to kind of lay back and see how things work out and
    then take a position. You can go to Washington to solve problems, or you
    can go to Washington to hope those problems go away. Senator Hagel is
    one of the type of people that said, ``I'm going to go to Washington to
    take a lead on this issue.'' This problem isn't going away; it needs to
    be fixed now, and I want to thank Chuck Hagel for his leadership on this
    important issue.
        I'm proud to be here with one of the most decent men in the United
    States Congress, a man who's got a huge
    heart, a compassionate fellow, a person who didn't have to go into
    public service, but said, service to a nation you love and a State you
    care about is an important lesson for others to realize, and Tom Osborne
    is one of the fine, fine Americans.
        I want to thank the Lieutenant Governor, Rick Sheehy, and the secretary of State, John Gale. Thank you all for coming today.
        I'm glad we're at a community college. And I thank Jody
    McDowell and the board and the
    teachers who are here, welcoming me here. This is a--[applause]. I don't
    know if the people of Omaha realize what an important asset you have in
    your community college system. I certainly understand it. Community
    colleges are a really important part of making sure America remains a
    competitive nation.
        I remind our fellow citizens, particularly those who look to the
    future and get nervous and say, ``Well, we can't compete,'' or,
    ``There's no way for America to be the economic leader of the world.
    There's just too much competition''--I simply just don't believe that. I
    tell people, ``Let's don't fear the future; let's shape it.'' And one
    way we can shape the future is to make sure people have the skills
    necessary to fill the jobs of the 21st century, and one of the best
    places for people to learn the skills of the 21st century is at a
    community college.
        Community colleges are practical. They design curriculum that meets
    the needs of today's world. So when people come here, they come here to
    learn a set of skills so they can go out and get a job and be a
    contributor to our society. Maybe the best way for me to describe how
    important a community college is, is to tell you a quick story about
    Heather Fowler. Where is Heather? There you
    are. You got a lousy seat, but that's okay. [Laughter] She should have
    had a better seat because she's the president of the community college.
    Heather has got, I think, the toughest job in America, and that is being
    a single mother raising two children. It's particularly tough since one
    of her daughters is nearly 16. [Laughter] I know what it's like.
        She's the president. She had been out of
    school for 16 years. She had been working to raise her family, but she
    realized that she needed to come back to enhance her skills. So guess
    where she came--right here. And she's graduating with a nursing degree.
    See, she had the initiative to say, ``I may have been dealt a tough
    hand, but I'm going to play it with all my strength and all my might,
    and I'm going to take advantage of that which is available.'' The

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    community colleges makes advantages available to people.
        Heather, I want to thank you for your
    dedication; I want to thank you for your example. If anybody is
    listening out there and you're wondering whether or not you can find a
    place to enhance your skills so you can get a higher paying job, so you
    can become a more productive worker, which means more pay for you, take
    the heart of the president of this school--take the lesson to heart.
    Heather Fowler shows what's possible here at the community college
    system. And I'm honored, Heather, you let me use you as an example to
    encourage others to come to this fine place of learning.
        I want to thank Scot Adams. He tolerated
    me. He's the fellow who is the executive director of Catholic Charities
    who took me on the tour--great tour guide.
        I want to thank--I've got two messages for you from Washington, one
    from the Secretary of Agriculture--[laughter]--Johanns; he's doing fine. [Laughter] He's doing really good. As a
    matter of fact, he remembers where he came from. That's an important
    part of Washington; it's important that you go up there and serve but
    never forget where you came from. And Mike Johanns knows where he came
    from, and he's doing an excellent job as the Secretary of Agriculture.
        And Laura sends her best, by the way. She's
    a--I checked in with her this morning. I'm an early riser, maybe a
    little too early for her in this case. But she's doing good, really
    good. And I'm proud to call her wife, and I hope you all are proud to
    call her First Lady. She's a fine person.
        We talked about the importance to help people assimilate into our
    society. This is what's happened throughout the ages here in America.
    People have learned to assimilate. You know, I like to remind people,
    when we think about this immigration debate, the first thing people have
    got to remember is we are a nation of immigrants, that we've had this
    debate before in American history. This isn't the first time the United
    States of America has had to take a look at our nature and our soul and
    our history.
        I'm here to talk about a comprehensive immigration reform package,
    one part of which is to help people assimilate. The reason I want a
    comprehensive reform package is because I want whatever we do to work.
    And in my judgment, the definition of ``work'' is: We want a border
    that's safe and secure; we want rule of law to prevail; and we want the
    American Dream to flourish. We're a nation of laws, and we want to
    uphold those laws. We're also a compassionate nation that treats people
    decently, and the two are not in conflict. That's what's important for
    our fellow citizens to understand. The two are not in conflict.
        I know you probably look at Washington and think it's impossible to
    develop a consensus in Washington, DC. It probably seems that way,
    doesn't it, when you pay attention to all the sharp elbows being thrown
    and the people opinionating and screaming and hollering and calling each
    other names. But there is a consensus emerging on this issue. I remind
    the folks, I was down--one reason I'm red-faced is I was down on the
    border yesterday in Laredo. It was about 106. But I reminded people that
    last fall, when I moved around the country on this issue, there wasn't
    any legislation at all. As a matter of fact, it was in doubt as to
    whether or not people even wanted to talk about the issue. You could
    hear them saying in Washington, ``Two thousand-six is an election year;
    maybe we don't want to take on this issue.''
        But some of us in Washington said, ``Well, you got to take on the
    issue.'' There's a problem. It's not working. The system is not working;
    the borders aren't secure; we got people living in the shadows of our
    society, and that's not right. People don't have trust in the border.
    The Federal Government is doing its job on the border,

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    and at the same time, we got a whole industry sprung up of smugglers and
    document forgers and people who are using people like chattel, and
    that's not fair, and that's not right, either.
        And so since then, since when I was--went down there to the border
    for the first time to bring up the issue, the House passed a bill. And
    then I mentioned the Senate passed a bill with Chuck's leadership there. So there's progress. You can't
    get a piece of legislation out that I can sign unless you get both
    bodies to move.
        And so now we're in what's called a conference committee, and
    there's a consensus developing. Listen, all of us in America agree we've
    got to secure our border. That's the job of a Federal Government. You
    want to know who's coming into your country and why; that's what you
    want to know. We have a responsibility to enforce the border.
        And we're making good steps toward that. First thing is, you've got
    to have Border Patrol agents to enforce the border. And by 2008, we will
    have doubled the number of Border Patrol agents to 18,000 Border Patrol
    agents. And these are people who are highly trained people, whose job it
    is to respect the law, to be able to ascertain if somebody's coming into
    this country illegally or not. See, their job is to make sure the border
    is open for tourism and legal traffic and shut down for drugs and
    narcotics and smugglers.
        And I was out there to the training plant in Artesia, New Mexico, by
    the way, yesterday, and there's some fine people serving our country.
    They really are hard-working, decent folks who volunteered and said, ``I
    want to serve the United States of America in the Border Patrol.'' And
    since 2001, we've apprehended and sent back 6 million people trying to
    get in the country.
        People are working hard to defend our border, and so therefore,
    we're going to double the number of Border Patrol agents. And until we
    get them stood up, in my judgment, it made sense to send some National
    Guard folks down there, not to be the law enforcement arm of the Border
    Patrol but to man the phones and radars and help build the roads, to
    complement the Border Patrol so that the Border Patrol stays on the
    frontline of enforcing the border. And once we get the Border Patrol up
    and running, the Guard can go back to doing what they're doing. But it
    makes sense to tell the American people that we understand our
    obligation, and we're going to do our job of enforcing the border.
        This is a long border. I mean, it's hard to enforce. And therefore,
    we need to have good technology down there--cameras and infrared devices
    and unmanned aerial vehicles and high-tech--high-density corridors, some
    fencing--just so the Border Patrol can do its job. That's what the
    American people expect, and we're going to modernize our border, and
    Congress agrees on that.
        The other problem we got along the border is that when people get
    stopped who are illegally trying to come in the border, a lot of them
    just get sent back into society. That's not a good system. There's
    something wrong with this system. In other words, you got people down
    there enforcing the law, and somebody gets apprehended, and they send
    them to an immigration holding deal, and they say, ``Look, check back
    after 45 days, with us, please.'' Well, they're not checking back after
    45 days. That's called catch-and-release.
        Most of the people we catch are Mexican citizens, and they're sent
    back to their country immediately. But a lot of folks from Central
    America, for example, are caught, and since we didn't have enough
    detention beds, places to hold them until they're able to be sent back
    to their country, people were let out in society. And that demoralized
    our Border Patrol. It basically said to the American people, ``We're not
    serious about enforcing our border.''
        And so we're ending the practice of catch-and-release by increasing
    the number

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    of facilities for people to be compassionately held until they're able
    to be sent back to their countries. And I'm working with the countries
    to encourage their leaders to accept back those who have been caught
    trying to sneak into our country.
        Look, the strategy is this: The strategy is to say, once people
    understand that they can't come into our country illegally and they'll
    be sent home when they try to, then they're not going to try in the
    first place. That's part of the strategy.
        However, I want you to know that I don't believe we can enforce our
    border without having a rational way for people to come here to do work
    that Americans are not doing. It's called a temporary-worker plan. A
    temporary-worker plan recognizes that--two things: One, there are jobs
    Americans aren't doing--they're just not--and yet there's a need. We got
    employers who are looking for employees to do a certain kind of work.
    And the second aspect is, you've got to understand family values don't
    stop at the Rio Grande River. There are a lot of hard-working, decent
    people who want to put food on the table for their families. And
    therefore, they're willing to get in the back of an 18-wheeler or walk
    across a hot desert to work.
        And that's part of the phenomenon you're seeing, you see, and you
    can't enforce the border like the American people expect us with just
    Border Patrol and technology alone. So long as there's that strong
    desire for people to improve their lives, to do whatever it takes to
    come to America to work, it's going to make it really hard to enforce
    that border. And so the best way to do it is to have a plan so people
    don't feel like they got to sneak in. We ought to have a plan that says,
    ``You can come in legally for a limited period of time; you can come in
    and do work Americans are not doing, and then you go home. But you can
    take that money you made and help your family.'' That's what we ought to
    have.
        See, when people are trying to sneak across the border, it makes it
    hard to enforce the border. When people can come here in a rational way
    that saves their lives as well as takes pressure off the border, it will
    enable us to be able to tell the American people we got a better way of
    doing the job they expect us to do, which is enforce the border.
        I strongly support a temporary-worker program. I think most people
    in Congress understand the rationality of a temporary-worker program. I
    guarantee you, many employers here in the State of Nebraska, people in
    the agricultural sector, people in the hospitality sector, understand
    the need to have a rational plan that will enable them to have somebody
    here on a temporary basis to do the jobs Americans aren't doing.
        We all agree that we need to uphold the law when it--oh, by the way,
    in order to get one of these cards, something I'm about to describe to
    you, you got to pass a criminal background check. In other words, we
    want to know who's coming into the country and why they're coming in the
    country, and we want to help meet an economic need as well as a
    humanitarian need.
        I repeat to you, America should not tolerate a system that has
    encouraged coyotes to flourish. Coyotes are the unscrupulous that take a
    human being who desires to improve his or her life and stuffs them in
    the back of an 18-wheeler. And in my judgment, a temporary-worker
    program would put coyotes out of business, and society would be better
    off without them.
        We agree in Washington that we need to enforce laws when it comes to
    hiring illegal workers. See, it's against the law in America to hire an
    illegal worker. That's what the law says. You can't hire--you can't
    uphold the law, however, when people are showing up with forged
    documents. How can you expect your employers to say, you're here legally
    or not legally, when employers are not document verifiers? And so
    therefore, a temporary-worker program has

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    got to have a tamper-proof identification card that shows somebody is
    here legally and so the employer knows that they're not breaking the
    law.
        It makes sense to me to say to our employers, ``Sure, you ought to
    be able to hire somebody, but just make sure they're legally here. And
    here's a system that encourages you to be able to know that you're
    hiring somebody who is legally here.''
        The big issue facing Washington is what to do with people that have
    been here for quite a while. That's really, I think, the ultimate
    stumbling block, when you think about it. There's serious disagreement
    on the issue around the country. First of all, we've got to recognize
    that there are people who have been here that are newly arrived, and
    then there are people who have been here for, say, a decade, who have
    paid their taxes and built a home and raised a family. So the question
    is, what do you do, what do you do as a society?
        The debate really--much of the debate I'm sure you're hearing from
    is either amnesty or deportation, both of which I'm against. Amnesty
    means you're automatically a citizen. I don't think that makes sense.
    It's not fair to those who have waited legally. We got a lot of people
    waiting to be citizens here, and they've done--they've adhered to our
    laws, and they're in line--they're in the citizenship line. And I think
    it would be unfair to those who have been here legally to say to those
    who have been here illegally that these folks get ahead of you in line.
    That doesn't make any sense to me, if we're a country that's going to
    uphold laws.
        On the other hand, it makes no sense at all to say we can find
    people and run them out of the country. For some, I guess that sounds
    appealing. It's impractical. It's not going to work, and it's not
    necessary, in my judgment. It's not the right thing to do.
        The right thing to do is to recognize that if you've been here
    illegally, that there ought to be a cost for doing so, but also
    recognize there are decent, hard-working people that have contributed to
    our society at the same time. And so I believe here's a way to work
    out--work through this problem. One is to say, you got to pay a fine for
    being here illegally. You've got to learn the English language. In other
    words, you got to pay--repay a debt to society and learn the skills
    necessary to assimilate into our society. Show us you've been working
    hard. In other words, there's a way to verify your contributions to our
    society. And then, if you want to be a citizen, you can get in line to
    be a citizen, but not at the head of the line--you get to get at the
    back of the line.
        And to me, that is a humane, decent way of addressing a very
    difficult problem that Congress is going to have to wrestle with. I
    believe we ought to differentiate between those who've been here for a
    long period of time and those who are newly arrived. I know we need to
    treat people with respect and dignity. I think the best way to assure
    the American people that we're a nation of laws and a compassionate
    nation at the same time is to say, ``Pay your debt to society, and if
    you choose to be a citizen, you can; just you wait in line at the back,
    not in the beginning.''
        See, there are lines for people who want to become a citizen, and
    they're based upon nationality. And Congress can determine the length of
    the line if they want. If the line is too long for Irish people or
    people from different countries or Mexicans, then increase the number of
    green cards. If the people are worried about the number of citizens all
    of a sudden becoming eligible for citizenship, you can decrease the
    number of green cards. But in the meantime, we need to treat people with
    respect.
        This is a tough debate for America; it really is. It's a tough
    debate because it's one in which the language can sometimes send the
    wrong signals about what we're about. People are very emotional about
    this issue. And my admonition to people who

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    are concerned about the immigration debate is to remember that language
    can send signals about who we are as a nation, that harsh, ugly rhetoric
    on the debate tends to divide our country. It tends to forget the values
    that have made us great.
        The values that made us great is that we're a nation that have been
    united by common ideals, proud of our history, proud of our flag,
    understanding of the need to have a common language, and at the same
    time, a society whose soul has been uplifted constantly by the fact that
    people have come to our country to realize a dream: the dream of working
    hard and improving their lot in life, the dream of putting food on the
    table, and at the same time, hoping the child goes to college, the dream
    of owning their own businesses. That's uniquely American. It enables me
    to say to the American people that ``one Nation under God'' means
    something. And we must never lose that spirit.
        For people in Washington, DC, now's the time to get something done.
    It's important for our elected leaders to understand, if you're going to
    address the issue of immigration, you've got to address all aspects of
    the immigration. It's got to be a comprehensive bill if we want there to
    be an effective bill.
        People say, ``Well, you know, Mr. President, it looks impossible
    that something's going to happen.'' I disagree. American people want
    something to happen. They expect us as people elected to office to work
    together to get something done in a positive way. That's what they
    expect of us. And I'm going to continue traveling this country reminding
    the people that we have got an opportunity to put together a
    comprehensive package to reform the system to make it work, a system
    that will enforce our border and a system that will reinforce our
    values.
        I want to thank you for giving me a chance to come and talk to you
    about this important issue. I'm really glad to be back in Omaha,
    Nebraska. May God bless you all, and may God continue to bless our
    country.

    Note: The President spoke at 8:32 a.m. at the Metropolitan Community
    College--South Omaha Campus. In his remarks, he referred to Gov. Dave
    Heineman of Nebraska and his wife, Sally; and Jo Ann C. ``Jody''
    McDowell, president, and Heather Fowler, student ex officio,
    Metropolitan Community College.