President Bush and immigration policy

I hadn’t had an opportunity to discuss President Bush’s mention of immigration reform in the SOTU. Here it is:

Extending hope and opportunity in our country requires an immigration system worthy of America, with laws that are fair and borders that are secure. When laws and borders are routinely violated, this harms the interests of our country. To secure our border, we’re doubling the size of the Border Patrol and funding new infrastructure and technology.

Yet even with all these steps, we cannot fully secure the border unless we take pressure off the border, and that requires a temporary worker program. We should establish a legal and orderly path for foreign workers to enter our country to work on a temporary basis. As a result, they won’t have to try to sneak in, and that will leave border agents free to chase down drug smugglers and criminals and terrorists. We’ll enforce our immigration laws at the worksite, and give employers the tools to verify the legal status of their workers, so there’s no excuse left for violating the law. We need to uphold the great tradition of the melting pot that welcomes and assimilates new arrivals. We need to resolve the status of the illegal immigrants who are already in our country, without animosity and without amnesty.

Convictions run deep in this Capitol when it comes to immigration. Let us have a serious, civil, and conclusive debate so that you can pass, and I can sign, comprehensive immigration reform into law.

I’m glad he added this to the speech, and in particular I totally agree with the notion that we need a system that has the Border Patrol going after dangerous people, as opposed to those looking for work. The problem, however, is that he said similar things last year, but never went beyond just talk.

Stung by the president’s past refusal to actually push for immigration reform, Democrats are now demanding that he deliver at least a quarter of House Republicans. This seems a shrewd move, as it tells the president to put his money where his mouth is. If he does it, Democrats can take a large share of the credit for reform; if he fails, he looks even weaker, which could make it easier for Democrats to block him in other areas.