BUSH: WE CAN'T BOOT 11M ILLEGALS TV SPEECH TO PITCH GUEST-WORKER PLAN
By GEOFF EARLE Post Correspondent
May 15, 2006 -- WASHINGTON - In his live, nationally televised address tonight, President Bush will tell Americans that it's impossible to deport the estimated 11 million illegal aliens living here.
"We must reject amnesty, but recognize that it is not realistic to round up millions of people and send them home," said White House spokeswoman Maria Tamburri in a preview of Bush's speech.
She said Bush plans to spell out his vision for sealing the border, enforcing the law, and "creating a rational system for workers to come into our country and to do jobs Americans won't do." Bush plans to visit the U.S.-Mexican border this week, and will dispatch his Cabinet to help sell the immigration plan.
The Senate plans to return to the contentious issue this week now that Republicans and Democrats have a deal to plow through controversial amendments. But the House and Senate are far apart on whether to put illegals on a path to citizenship.
Tamburri said Bush would call for "better equipment, increased funding, and advanced technology" to secure the border.
She didn't confirm press reports that Bush wants to expand deployments of National Guard Troops to step up border enforcement. Some Guard troops are already deployed in Arizona and New Mexico, but Bush is considering a big increase.
White House National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said that enforcement was the Border Patrol's job - but then asked whether they needed help from the Guard on an "interim basis."
"This is not about militarizing the border," he said. The president is looking to do everything he can to secure the border. It's what the American people want."
Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), speaking on ABC's "This Week," slammed use of stretched Guard resources. "We have stretched our military as thin as we have ever seen it in modern times," he said. "And what in the world are we talking about here - sending a National Guard that we may not have any capacity to send up to or down to protect the borders? That's not their role."
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), appearing on CNN's "Late Edition," backed putting more Guard troops on the border with Mexico, and said lawmakers taking shots at the idea were "whining" and "moaning."
Bush plans to repeat his call for creating a temporary-worker program "that would allow foreign workers to enter our country in a lawful way for a limited period of time," said Tamburri. He also will call for holding employers "accountable" for the workers they hire by making it easier to check on an employee's status.
The administration also has recently announced some high-profile law-enforcement actions against employers who cheat.
Hadley didn't say whether Bush backed building a 700-mile fence on the Mexican border - although Bush supported the House bill last year that included a fence and tough penalties for illegals and employers who hire them.
Hagel, who helped forge a key immigration compromise, put the chances of enacting an immigration bill this election year at 50-50.