Abstract

Border Justice

This article discusses the major reform of the United States failed immigration policy by George W. Bush. The proposals would make many of the estimated 8 million to 14 million undocumented immigrants in the United States eligible for temporary legal status, with new guestworker visas renewable for three-year periods. In this election year, however, scores of Republican Congress members, ensconced in safe, conservative, mostly white districts, find no allure in appealing to Latinos, and a restrictionist view on immigration prevails within the Republican caucus. In other words, unless Bush makes a full-court press against the bulk of his own party--much as Bill Clinton did to pass NAFTA--his immigration initiative will be DOA. Bush's plan is a few tortillas short of the "whole enchilada" of immigration reform that former Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda says should be on the table, but it's doubtful that Congress will go even that far.