Washington – Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff will tour the Texas-Mexico border this morning with the conservative authors of a congressional immigration compromise, in what will be the clearest sign yet that the Bush administration is prepared to make major concessions to reach an immigration deal this year.
Chertoff’s appearance with Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., is “in no way meant to signal an endorsement” of their compromise, Homeland Security Department spokesman William Knocke said.
But it was seen by supporters and opponents Wednesday as a boost for the plan and a significant White House concession to conservatives.
Under the compromise, most of the nation’s 11 million illegal immigrants would be allowed a chance to work in the country legally – and possibly earn citizenship. But no guest-worker program would be made operational until stringent border security measures are implemented, and illegal immigrants would have to report to privately run “Ellis Island” centers in Mexico to apply for legal work permits.
President Bush has maintained that a crackdown on the border could work only if new avenues toward legal work and citizenship were opened concurrently.
“The White House thinks we have a very interesting idea, and the president was very adamant about wanting to encourage my efforts,” Pence said Wednesday, after touring the border near San Diego. “Going to the border with Secretary Chertoff will help emphasize our seriousness about putting border security first.”
