On the heels of signing a bill to boost border security funding, President Bush yesterday said immigration reform requires granting citizenship to current illegal aliens. "You can't kick 12 million people out of your country," Mr. Bush said at the White House celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. "We must figure out a way to say to those that if you're lawful and if you've contributed to the United States of America, there is a way for you to eventually earn citizenship."
Since this spring, Mr. Bush has been a supporter of allowing some illegal aliens to earn citizenship, and he backed a Senate plan that divided immigrants, giving longtime illegal aliens a chance for citizenship while withholding that chance from less-entrenched illegal aliens. Any action on immigration will have to wait until Congress returns, either during a lame-duck session after next month's elections or next year, when a new Congress is sworn in. But in the meantime, Mr. Bush will soon sign a bill authorizing 700 miles of fence to be built along the U.S.-Mexico border. This week he signed a spending bill that included the first installment of money for that fence, as well as for other infrastructure such as vehicle barriers and ground-based radar.
and it's one two three what are we fighting for? |