2005 George W. Bush - Path to Citizenship (but not "Amnesty")

In 2005, President Bush began talking tough on securing the border.   While visiting Tucson Arizona in 2005, President Bush endorsed building more jail cells, speeding up deportations, and "hardening" the border.  Bush told Arizonans that "Securing our border is essential to securing the homeland".   But at the same time, the President also pushed his proposal for a temporary-worker program which would match legal immigrants with employers "to fill jobs that Americans will not do".  Bush said that this guest-worker program would not include a path to citizenship,  but conservative allies of his did not buy it, and criticized the program as amnesty.   It was a tough sell with both Democrats and Republicans opposing the president's proposal.  Bush first introduced this in 2004, and again in his 2005 state of the Union address with these words:

"America's immigration system is also outdated, unsuited to the needs of our economy and to the values of our country. We should not be content with laws that punish hard-working people who want only to provide for their families and deny businesses willing workers and invite chaos at our border. It is time for an immigration policy that permits temporary-guest workers to fill jobs Americans will not take, that rejects amnesty, that tells us who is entering and leaving our country, and that closes the border to drug dealers and terrorists."

In the following spring of  2006. President Bush gave a live televised speech to the nation regarding his proposal for comprehensive immigration reform.  The immigration laws and border security was broken and both congress and the nation was at odds about what to do.  President Bush wanted to make it clear where he stood on immigration reform. In this speech, President Bush outlined "five clear objectives" including a path to citizenship, but short of amnesty.

1. Secure the border by adding an additional 6000 Border Patrol Officers, along with up to an additional 6,000 National Guard members.
2. Create a temporary-guest worker program
3. Hold Employers accountable for their workers. 
4. Provide a path to citizenship for "illegal immigrants who have roots in our country and want to stay should have to pay a meaningful penalty for breaking the law, to pay their taxes, to learn English, and to work in a job for a number of years."
5. Honor the tradition of the American melting pot. 

Then in 2007, a bill was finally debated in congress that would provide legal status and a path to citizenship for the approximately 12 million legal immigrants residing in the United States.   The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 was portrayed as a compromise between increased border control and a path to citizenship.   The bill was introduced to congress but no cloture vote succeeded.   Contained in this act, were the provisions of the DREAM Act supported by President George W. Bush which provided a path to citizenship if four basic requirements are met.

• Must have entered the country before the age of 16;
• Must graduate high school or obtain a GED;
• Must have good moral character (no criminal record); and
• Must have at least five years of continuous presence in the US.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/11/28/bush.immigration/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comprehensive_Immigration_Reform_Act_of_2007
http://www.c-span.org/video/?192506-1/president-bush-address-immigration-2006
http://www.limitstogrowth.org/WEB-Graphics/IllegalsLongLineBrush.jpg
http://www.longislandwins.com/assets/news/8336/bushimmigration.jpg