Bush Pushes for Immigration Reform
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

SANTIAGO, CHILE – President Bush, trying to mend relations with Latin America, pledged yesterday to make a fresh push for stalled immigration reforms and defended the American invasion of Iraq, saying that “history will prove it right.”
While the Iraq war is widely opposed in Latin America, Mr. Bush said, “The United States of America will stay the course and we will complete the task.”
Immigration is a sensitive issue throughout the region, and Mr. Bush said that his proposed immigration initiative would strengthen border security and help the economy.
“We would much rather have security guards chasing down terrorists or drug runners or drug smugglers than people coming to work,” Mr. Bush said at a brief news conference. “And so, therefore, I think a guest-worker program is important.”
Winding up a three-day visit, Mr. Bush spoke at a news conference as a new security spat surfaced with Chile after an embarrassing fracas in which Mr. Bush intervened. But there was no mention of the issue as Mr. Bush appeared with the president of Chile, Ricardo Lagos.
On the closing day of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, both Mr. Bush and Mr. Lagos acknowledged they had disagreed about Iraq. “Most of the time we will be in agreement. Sometimes we won’t,” Mr. Lagos said. “But that’s life.”
Mr. Bush said he respected Mr. Lagos’s decision and said they were still friends. “What we’re doing is the right thing in Iraq and history will prove it right,” the president said.
Mr. Bush said no one could argue that Iraq was better off with Saddam Hussein out of power, or dispute the need to support democracy. The president mistakenly said Iraq’s elections were being planned for June 30 rather than January 30.
Mr. Bush said some of the Pacific-Rim leaders at the summit had expressed concern about the declining value of the American dollar.
“I reiterated the fact that my government has a strong dollar policy,” Mr. Bush said. “The best way to affect those who watch the dollar’s value is to make a commitment to deal with our short-term and long-term deficits.”