On U.S.-Mexico border, Bush touts guest-worker program

YUMA, Ariz. – President Bush said Monday the United States has toughened security along its border with Mexico and it’s time for Congress to approve legislation overhauling the nation’s immigration laws.\nAt a Border Patrol station in this southwest desert city, the president campaigned for a law to help people get temporary work in the United States or clear up their illegal status with a path to citizenship.\nBush hoped to send a message – particularly to conservative critics from his own party – that the stepped-up border enforcement is working. His get-tough message was meant to prod Congress into passing a guest worker program for immigrants, a signature domestic policy goal.\nBush was joined by Sen. Jon Kyl, the Arizona Republican, whose support is seen as critical to any deal in the Congress.\nAnother lawmaker vital to Bush’s effort, Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, said Monday: “President Bush did the right thing today by speaking out.”\n“Only a bipartisan bill will become law,” Kennedy added. “There is a lot of common ground, especially in the need to strengthen our borders and enforce our laws, though important differences remain to be resolved.”\nThe Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, has scheduled time for immigration debate in May.\nBoth Bush and the Democratic-run Congress are eager to show some accomplishment on a core issue like immigration. Yet it’s a sticky subject, and the fault lines don’t necessarily fall along party lines. For Bush, opportunities to see through his domestic agenda are shrinking.\nAdministration officials led by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez have been meeting privately for weeks with Republican senators. That expanded to a meeting in late March with key senators from both parties.\nOut of that session, a work-in-progress plan emerged – one described as a draft White House plan by officials in both parties and advocacy groups who got copies of the detailed blueprint.