Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride Coalition
Statement on President Bush’s announcement of a new temporary worker program

January 7, 2004

In his statement today, President Bush acknowledged that immigrants have been and continue to be a vital part of American life, and that the U.S. immigration system “is not working.” On this, the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride Coalition concurs.

However, President Bush then went on to propose something far less than a reform of immigration policy and the system it governs. His proposal, in his own words, is simply “a new temporary worker program.”

If there is any reform here, it is of “old” temporary worker programs, including the notorious and discredited “bracero” program. These old programs would be reformed, according to the President’s statement, by such measures as allowing immigrant workers to change employers, earn fair wages, and be protected by American labor laws.
While it is short on detail, President Bush’s proposal falls far short of the requirements of comprehensive immigration reform:

• It does not reward the work of undocumented immigrants already living and paying taxes here with an opportunity to legalize their status, and get on the path to citizenship.
• It says nothing about family reunification, an issue of great concern to millions of immigrants and naturalized citizens in the U.S.
• It is unclear what legal protections would be extended to undocumented immigrant workers.
• It makes no mention of protecting the civil rights and civil liberties of immigrants, regardless of their status.

President Bush said our immigration laws must be “more humane.”But a policy that measures an immigrant worker’s stay in America in three-year increments is far from humane. Why buy a house or start a family, why open a business or put down roots in a community, why build up seniority on a job or train for higher skilled work, if you will have to leave it all after three or six or nine years? Why pull yourself up by your bootstraps only to have the boots themselves taken away when you’ve succeeded?

The IWFR Coalition will continue to work for comprehensive immigration reform based on the great American tradition of welcoming immigrants through an open door, not a revolving one.