Temporary insanity.(Immigration)

PRESIDENT BUSH's immigration proposals have been taking a beating from all sides. Restrictionists say that he is opening the borders. Liberals are complaining that he wants immigrants to be workers, but not citizens. The center-left editors of The New Republic are against the plan. Conservative senators such as Jon Kyl want substantial modifications. Even as pro-Bush a pundit as Fred Barnes says the plan won't work. Early polls have not been favorable.

Is there anything to be said for Bush's policy? With charity, we can come up with a few things. First, Bush has acknowledged the reality that our current policies are not working. Several million illegal immigrants already live in America, and their numbers increase by about 400,000 every year. Second: Whatever the president's other motives--the hunt for Hispanic votes, for example--the president has sought to respond to these illegal immigrants with decency and generosity. We should condemn their law-breaking, but we should also have sympathy. Most of them have come here only to find a better life.

The president's solution is to create a guest-worker program. People from other countries would be able to come and work for three-year terms. Illegal immigrants already here could join the program. Participants will be able to become citizens, but they will receive no preferential treatment compared to applicants who are waiting patiently overseas. Workers who leave their jobs, or get fired, will have to find another employer to sponsor them or risk deportation. The three-year terms would be renewable, but eventually workers would have to become permanent legal residents or leave.

Does this plan amount to an "amnesty," as the critics charge? It is certainly a partial amnesty: The government would be promising not to enforce the laws against participating illegal immigrants for at least three years. The plan also rewards lawbreaking. Illegal immigrants may not have a better shot at citizenship than people who wait overseas, but they do obviously have a better shot at working in America.

The debate over amnesty, however, misses the point. Objectionable though Bush's treatment of illegal immigrants is, it is not the worst feature of his policy. His invitation to millions of new guest workers is much more troubling. How "temporary" do we really expect their status to be? Under current law, any children they have while here will be American citizens--and the Bush administration supports that law. Is the government really going to be willing to deport the parents of American children?

Tying the workers to particular companies is not compatible with free labor markets. It will undermine the workers' ability to bargain for better pay and working conditions. That cannot be good for them or for American workers.

Will there be serious background checks to make sure that temporary workers are not criminals, or even terrorists? The last amnesty covered at least one terrorist, because the immigration bureaucracy was incapable of doing due diligence. It is overworked as it is. How well will it administer a vast new guest-worker program? Will business lobbies be willing to wait as background checks are done, or will they exert pressure to get the process speeded up?