Guest Worker Program Slashed

Bipartisan compromise tackles citizenship, border security, but faces uphill battle on Capitol Hill

(NEWSER) - Illegal immigrants are offered a path to citizenship for the first time under a new Senate immigration reform package unveiled today. A precarious compromise hammered out by Bush administration officials and top senators, the bill trades hard-line border control measures for controversial provisions like a guest-worker program and a system for earning citizenship. More»

New Republic warns 'draconian' measures will follow if compromise fails

(NEWSER) - Calling the immigration bill currently fighting its way through the Senate "the best that liberals are likely to get," the New Republic's editors tepidly endorsed the legislation that would bring 12M laborers closer to US citizenship even as they condemned the implications of the bill's proposed guest-worker program. More»

Poll shows support for guest-worker programs, path to citizenship

(NEWSER) - Lou Dobbs, take note: A majority of Americans back key immigration reform proposals making their way through Congress, a new CBS News/New York Times poll finds. Americans across the political spectrum say they support a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, and two-thirds back a guest-worker program. More»

(NEWSER) - American employers are systematically exploiting the 120,000 low-skilled guest workers they hire each year, from stealing passports and Social Security cards to consistently underpaying them. “I felt like an animal without claws—defenseless. It is the same as slavery,” says one worker, in a report published today by the Southern Poverty Law Center. More»

Budget focuses on halting flow of guns, illegal immigrants

(NEWSER) - In the budget he’ll hand to Congress tomorrow, President Obama is seeking $27 billion for border and transportation security as he focuses on immigration enforcement and battling the flow of US arms to Mexico. The 8% increase over this year’s budget allows for an expansion of border teams, a security boosts at airports and seaports, and immigrant screening programs, the Los Angeles Times reports. More»