[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 15 (Monday, April 17, 2006)]
[Pages 670-671]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

April 8, 2006

    Good morning. This week, Members of the United States Senate reached 
a promising bipartisan compromise on comprehensive immigration reform. 
Unfortunately, this compromise is being blocked by the Senate Democratic 
leader, who has refused to allow Senators to move forward and vote on 
amendments to this bill. I call on the Senate Minority Leader to end his 
blocking tactics and allow the Senate to do its work and pass a fair, 
effective immigration reform bill.
    Immigration is an emotional issue and a vitally important one. At 
its core, immigration is the sign of a confident and successful nation. 
It says something about our country that people around the world are 
willing to leave their homes, leave their families, and risk everything 
to come to America. Their talent, hard work, and love of freedom have 
helped make America a vibrant, strong nation. And by reforming our 
immigration laws to meet the realities of the 21st century, we will 
ensure that America remains a beacon of liberty for generations to come.
    I made clear that a comprehensive immigration reform bill must 
include three elements. First, comprehensive immigration reform must 
secure our borders. Since I took office, we've increased funding for 
border security by 66 percent, and Federal agents have apprehended and 
sent home more than 6 million people entering this country illegally,

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including more than 400,000 with criminal records. To improve security 
at the border, we're hiring thousands more Border Patrol agents; we're 
deploying new technologies like infrared cameras and unmanned aerial 
vehicles to help our agents do their jobs; we're installing physical 
barriers to entry, like fences in urban areas. We're making good 
progress, but we have much more work ahead to gain control of our 
border. I'll continue to work with Congress to strengthen border 
security, so we can prevent illegal immigrants from crossing our border 
and make the immigration system more orderly and secure.
    Second, comprehensive immigration reform must strengthen the 
enforcement of our laws in America's interior. Since I took office, 
we've increased funding for immigration enforcement by 42 percent, 
increased the number of immigration enforcement agents and criminal 
investigators, enhanced worksite enforcement, and gone after smugglers, 
gang members, and human traffickers. A good immigration bill should 
enhance our ability to stop document fraud and help employers comply 
with our laws.
    Finally, comprehensive immigration reform must include a temporary-
worker program that relieves pressure on our borders while rejecting 
amnesty. A temporary-worker program would create a legal way to match 
willing foreign workers with willing American employers to fill jobs 
that no American is available to do. By creating a legal channel for 
those seeking temporary work in America, we would reduce the number of 
people trying to sneak across the border. This would free up law 
enforcement officers to focus on criminals, drug dealers, terrorists, 
and others who mean us harm. A temporary-worker program would also 
improve security by creating tamper-proof identification cards, so we 
can keep track of every temporary worker who is here on a legal basis 
and identify those who are not.
    A new temporary-worker program should not provide amnesty. Granting 
amnesty would be unfair to those who follow the rules and obey the laws. 
Amnesty would also be unwise, because it would encourage others to break 
the law and create new waves of illegal immigration. We must ensure that 
those who break our laws are not granted an automatic path to 
citizenship. We should also conduct the debate on immigration reform in 
a manner worthy of our Nation's best traditions.
    To keep the promise of America, we must remain a welcoming society 
and also enforce the laws that make our freedom possible. As we do, our 
Nation will draw strength from the diversity of its citizens and unity 
from their desire to assimilate and become one people. By working 
together, we can fix our immigration system in a way that protects our 
country, upholds our laws, and makes our Nation proud.
    Thank you for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 12:56 p.m. on April 7 in the Cabinet 
Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on April 8. The 
transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
April 7 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast. The Office of 
the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of this 
address.