Illegal immigration has risen as a direct result of President Bush’s “Temporary Guest Worker” proposal of January 2004, which is broadly interpreted by foreigners as an “amnesty program,” according to the U.S. Border Patrol Survey Analysis by Judicial Watch.
During Bush’s proposal on January 7, 2004, the president said, “If an American employer is offering a job that American citizens are not willing to take, we ought to welcome into our country a person who will fill that job.”
Rep. Thomas Tancredo and Judicial Watch president Thomas Fitton, who are concerned both with Bush’s proposal and the results following the survey published June 28, held a press conference Tuesday to present findings of the survey analysis. Judicial Watch is a non-partisan, non-profit foundation dedicated to serving as an “ethical and legal ‘watchdog’ over the government, legal and judicial systems to promote a return to ethics and morality in the nation’s public life.”
“If you reward people for breaking the law, more people will break the law,” Congressman Tancredo said.
The survey - which was conducted by the U.S. Government to see how Bush’s plan affected illegal immigration and was analyzed by Judicial Watch - reveals that 45% of illegal immigrants crossed state borders as a result of interpretation of the proposal and rumors of amnesty given by the Bush administration.
However, administration canceled the intended six-month survey after only three weeks because “the results indicated that President Bush’s proposal had actually lured greater numbers of illegal immigrants to violate the law,” the analysis states.
The analysis also says “Judicial Watch had to file suit in federal court to compel the government’s production of the closest thing the American public has seen to an ‘official report’ of the survey’s results.” When the government conducted the Temporary Guest Worker Program Questionnaire of apprehended illegal aliens in January 2004, only 1,711 questionnaires were produced. After Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act request (FOIA), the government did not cooperate and has currently produced only 882 of the surveys. Therefore, analysis percentages are based on only 882 of the 1,711 surveys.
“We’re also still fighting for documents from the administration on this. . .there are additional surveys that we have not had access to,” Fitton said.
The survey analysis also indicates that 80% of immigrants apprehended intended to apply for amnesty and 61% heard of the Bush amnesty plan, which, based on results of the survey, has appeared to encourage illegal immigration.
Tancredo is concerned with the results of the survey and is certain that illegal immigrants view Bush’s proposal as amnesty. “It’s amnesty when you tell people they are not going to be punished for the violation of the law,” he said. “You can try to obfuscate, you can try to Clintonize the whole thing by changing the definitions of the words that you use to fit your definition of what the word is.”
Judicial Watch is continuing to fight for withheld additional records of the Temporary Guest Worker Program Questionnaire, which deems it necessary to “report facts to the American people, as a part of its mission as a public interest education foundation. Additionally, Congressman Tancredo has contacted the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff and other such individuals to continue to inform the country problems due to the proposal.
