[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 23 (Monday, June 12, 2006)]
[Pages 1091-1096]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
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 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

[[Page 1092]]

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 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 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

[[Page 1093]]

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, 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

[[Page 1094]]

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 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

[[Page 1095]]

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 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 awhile. 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

[[Page 1096]]

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 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. in 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.