Tough Talk on Illegal Immigration Scaring Bush Business Allies

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The New York Sun

WASHINGTON – The Bush administration’s increasingly tough talk on illegal immigration is scaring some business allies and trade groups whose support the White House is seeking for a broad overhaul of immigration laws.


Uncertainty about President Bush’s intentions has caused start-up problems for a business coalition created at the White House’s request to help finance a publicity and advertising campaign to promote changes to immigration laws.


The anxiety level could rise further when Mr. Bush and other administration officials step up their rhetorical campaign after Thanksgiving and in December, which some officials are calling “border security month.”


When Mr. Bush first outlined his immigration proposals in early 2004, he called for creation of a guest worker program that would grant temporary work visas to undocumented immigrants already here and to prospective workers abroad, a top objective of businesses that rely heavily on immigrant labor. The president also called for a renewed crackdown on security at the border, a priority of “immigration hawks” who form a large part of the Republican base.


But recently, a perceived shift of emphasis by the president toward border security has left many businesses worried about the depth of his commitment to a guest worker plan, which they consider an essential element of any reform legislation.


“Businesses have put a line in the sand, if you will,” an immigration attorney who co-chairs a coalition organized by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Laura Reiff, said. “We want to make it clear we don’t think enforcement-only is the way to go. It has to be comprehensive.”


The president’s shift in emphasis has caused problems for Americans for Border and Economic Security, a group organized this summer on behalf of the White House to raise funds to promote the president’s vision of immigration reform. The group started out with a fundraising goal of $3 million and tried to entice companies and trade groups to sign up for memberships priced at $50,000 to $250,000. It got few takers and has since reduced the price of admission to a minimum of $25,000 and maximum of $75,000, according to people who have been approached by the group.


The key figures in Americans for Border and Economic Security are a former GOP chairman, Ed Gillespie, former Rep. Cal Dooley, Democrat of California, and a former House Republican leader, Richard Armey of Texas. Initial organizing sessions, held in the Washington, D.C., offices of Mr. Gillespie’s lobbying firm, Quinn Gillespie & Associates, were attended by representatives of Wal-Mart, Microsoft, Tyson Foods, the American Hospital Association, and the U.S. Chamber, among others.


A spokeswoman for Microsoft would not say whether the company had joined ABES. Representatives of the other companies and organizations said they either declined the invitation or had not yet made up their minds.


Several other businesses and groups contacted in recent days – including the American Farm Bureau, American Health Care Association, and American Nursery & Landscape Association – said they had chosen not to participate.


Most of those contacted said they were reluctant to join Mr. Gillespie’s group because it was not clear how hard the president would push for comprehensive reform, and how soon the House and Senate would enact broad legislation. A few said they were also deterred by the high cost of membership or were already participating in the Essential Worker Immigration Coalition, the advocacy group organized by the U.S. Chamber.


Another worry for businesses has been the lack of clarity over what type of guest worker program the White House will ultimately endorse. In recent congressional testimony, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said Mr. Bush favored a guest worker program that would require workers to go back to their countries of origin after six years.


That idea is more stringent than business-backed proposals that would let undocumented workers remain in America and apply for citizenship after paying fines for having broken the law for having entered the country illegally.


With an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants comprising roughly 5% of the American workforce, many businesses believe that attempting to make them move back to their home countries would disrupt the American economy, devastate some agricultural sectors and labor-intensive industries, drain government resources, and require one of the biggest mass migrations in history.


“If you don’t provide some kind of accommodation, these 11 million people are not going to come out of the shadows but are going to remain underground,” Mr. Dooley, who heads the Food Products Association, said.


The New York Sun

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