MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bush calls for troops to boost border patrol

President Bush on Monday laid out a plan to shut off illegal immigration by dispatching up to 6,000 National Guard troops to the Mexican border.

Bush characterized the Guard deployment as a stopgap measure while the same number of new Border Patrol agents are trained and border security technology is boosted.

"The United States must secure its border," he said. "This is a basic responsibility of a sovereign nation. It is also an urgent requirement of national security."

But he met with resistance from some in his own party. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in Oceanside on Monday that he opposes deploying already overburdened National Guard troops at the border.

The address, Bush's first from the Oval Office on a domestic issue, was a cautiously calibrated rhetorical and policy mix. It vowed toughness as it urged compassion, acknowledged the rising anger of the national immigration debate as it urged civility, and celebrated the nation's immigrant heritage while outlining a plan for ending the chaos at the border.

"We will fix the problems created by illegal immigration, and we will deliver a system that is secure, orderly and fair," Bush said.

The speech was pitched to an American audience, but it had strong reverberations south of the border.

While praising some elements of the speech, including Bush's recognition of the economic and social contributions of immigrants, one top Mexican official expressed concern that the measures to toughen security at the border would come before an immigration bill is passed.

"If the Mexican government has received assurances that the announced measures do not imply the militarization of the border, we should point out our concern that these actions are still not accompanied by sufficient advances in the legislative process that is under way," said Geronimo Gutierrez, undersecretary for North American affairs in Mexico's Foreign Relations Ministry. For Mexicans of all economic classes, the image of troops along the border heightens tensions in an already strained relationship.

The National Guard troops would be sent to the border not to detain illegal immigrants, Bush said, but to support the Border Patrol "by operating surveillance systems, analyzing intelligence, installing fences and vehicle barriers, building patrol roads, and providing training."

While the president sought to demonstrate a good track record by noting that the Border Patrol has apprehended more than 6 million illegal immigrants during his presidency, he did not acknowledge that the nation's illegal immigrant population has grown by about 3 million during the same period.

Bush - whose popularity has plummeted because of a broad public perception that he has mismanaged not only the border but also the Iraq war and the response to Hurricane Katrina - also sought to reassure Americans that his new proposal would not overtax the National Guard.

Presidential advisers said Monday afternoon that the troops would rotate in and out in two- or three-week cycles that would correspond to their annual training periods.

While emphasizing border enforcement in the first half of his speech, Bush also made a pitch for legalizing many of the 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants estimated to be in the United States. And he called for a temporary worker program that "would meet the needs of our economy, and ... give honest immigrants a way to provide for their families while respecting the law."

The president called for a conditional legalization similar to the one detailed in legislation that the Senate started debating Monday. It would require that illegal immigrants established in the country pay a fine and back taxes, learn English and remain steadily employed.

But on at least one key issue, the president's proposal departed sharply from the bill before the Senate, which would allow hundreds of thousands of guest workers into the country every year and provide them with a path to citizenship.

"Temporary workers must return to their home country at the conclusion of their stay," Bush said.

The president also outlined a series of additional steps to reform the nation's immigration policy, including:

- Stepped up federal efforts to train local and state police departments in immigration enforcement measures. - Tamper-proof identity cards for all foreign workers, which would provide employers with a reliable method of verifying their eligibility to work.

Speaking at Del Rio Elementary School, where he was promoting a $37.3 billion public works bond package, Gov. Schwarzenegger noted many California Guard troops have already served serial stints in Iraq and are needed at home to be prepared to swing into action at a moment's notice in a state prone to natural disasters.

"We have thousands of National Guard in Iraq," Schwarzenegger said. "So we are already stretching and they are under tremendous pressure the way things are now because we have a shortage of National Guard for the state of California."