Transcript Excerpts: White House Daily Briefing, July 26, 2001
(Discusses President Bush's plans for immigration reform)

White House Spokesman Ari Fleischer said President Bush has not made any final decisions about immigrant groups other than Mexicans that might be included in an expanded and improved guest worker program.

During the daily briefing July 26, Fleisher said that the President "is considering various ideas about how to apply changes in the guest worker program and to whom those changes should apply to."

Following are excerpts from that briefing dealing with immigration reform:

(begin transcript excerpts)

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
July 26, 2001

PRESS BRIEFING BY ARI FLEISCHER
The James S. Brady Briefing Room
12:45 P.M. EDT

Q: Two questions, Ari. Can you elaborate in any way on the President's statement this morning that he's open-minded in considering other countries in the immigration reforms being considered by the working group?

MR. FLEISCHER: What the President indicated is that he has not made any decisions yet, but that matter is under review. And he cited, of course, the reason for much of his focus is because of the impending visit of his good friend, President Fox of Mexico for the state visit in September.

Q: He indicated a willingness to include other countries.

MR. FLEISCHER: Certainly. All along -- the White House has said that all along, that the President had made no decisions about the exact groups that may be liable for more humane and legal treatment as a part of an expanded or improved guest worker program. But no decisions have been made. The President is considering various ideas about how to apply changes in the guest worker program and to whom those changes should apply to.

Q: Ari, the President today was very clear in saying he does not support blanket amnesty. And you keep talking of a temporary worker permit or a guest worker -- or whatever they're called. In other words, for anybody to be able to -- the President said today an employee has to want to work for that employer and he said there must be a mechanism, a way of making both ends match. So all this talk about amnesty, all it is is a worker program, that's all. You've got to have the worker and the guy who wants to hire him, right?

MR. FLEISCHER: I would hesitate to say "all it is." That's a lot. There's an important need to help immigrants come to this country and have the legal protections they're entitled to, as well as a humane, safe, and legal way for them to enter into our nation's borders.

One of the biggest problems with people coming to this country from Mexico is they have been entering in ways that have led to tragedies, human tragedies, with people dying on the borders trying to get through. And if we can create a new guest worker program that addresses some of those concerns, we can protect the lives of people who come to this country for opportunity. And that's why the President is focused on this.

I would just remind you that nobody in this administration talked about amnesty. You heard the President's position on it. It's always been a guest worker program, as was accurately reported in the first story on this topic.

Q: How about the people who are already here? There are millions of them that are already here; they're probably working illegally, and the workers would probably like to retain them. Would they be eligible --

MR. FLEISCHER: This applies to the people who are already here.

Q: Even if they're here illegally?

MR. FLEISCHER: That's correct. This applies to people who are already here.

Q: As long as both sides --

MR. FLEISCHER: This applies to people who are already in this country, and it, of course, would have implications for how people arrive in this country beyond that.

Q: Which leads to the central question. If the President is not in favor of blanket amnesty, but nevertheless, this guest worker system as it has been described to me would be a transitional bridge to full legal status, don't you eventually achieve amnesty, or something very close to it, for the people who are already here? It's not just a guest worker program that has a date certain where they have to go back. It's a bridge to becoming a full-fledged legal resident.

MR. FLEISCHER: Only after they avail themselves of their legal rights to apply for citizenship, which takes a considerable period of time, of course.

Q: But citizenship is different from being able to permanently work in the United States.

MR. FLEISCHER: Major, I think until the President makes his determination about what steps to take, you're jumping ahead. You don't know what the President is going to decide. But what you know is that the President is indicated that we need to be a country that welcomes immigrants to our shores. And there are millions of people here who are here illegally, who came here for opportunity, and there are millions -- there are many people who risked their lives coming here. The President would like to set up a system that is humane, that is legal, that is safe, so that immigrants can come here and be welcomed with the opportunities that this nation presents.

Q: I'm jumping ahead, it's only because I have been lead there by people I've talked to within this administration who say what is currently contemplated is something where guest worker is a transitional phase to legal status. So isn't this much closer to amnesty than the President is actually conceding?

MR. FLEISCHER: No, because as the President indicated, he opposes a blanket amnesty. There is a difference between that and the guest worker program, which as the President and Jacobo just indicated, matches employers' needs with employees presence here.

(end excerpts White House transcript)

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