Amid a raging national debate over immigration, Mayor Bloomberg yesterday criticized guest worker programs and said the country needs to get better control of its borders.

While Mr. Bloomberg did not mention President Bush, he attacked the guest worker programs the president supports.

“I’ve always thought guest worker programs are either a deliberate attempt just to hoodwink the public or that people that propose them are being naive,” Mr. Bloomberg told reporters. “After you’re here for six years, why would you ever go back?”

On Friday, Mr. Bush met with President Fox of Mexico to discuss immigration and declared his continued support for the guest worker program.

Mr. Bush was quoted in the New YorkTimes as saying: “I believe a guest worker program will help us rid the society and the border of these coyotes, who smuggle people in the back of 18-wheelers. I believe it’ll help get rid of the document-forgers. I believe it’ll help people on both sides of our border to respect the laws of our border, and enforce our borders.”

Mr. Bloomberg made his first comments on immigration control last week, but ramped them up yesterday. He is in favor of legalizing the 12 million undocumented immigrants estimated to be in the country and either of erecting a wall at the border or ratcheting up border enforcement in some other fashion.

“A sham program of, ‘We’re going to get control of our border, thank you very much, and then we do nothing’ is not acceptable,” he said.

The city’s police commissioner, Raymond Kelly, who served as a U.S. Customs Service commissioner under President Clinton, said getting control of the border requires a boost in resources.

“If you want increased enforcement on the border, you’re going to have to significantly increase resources on the border,” he said.