Illegals proposal focuses on work

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President Bush today will propose a broad temporary-work program that will make more than 8 million illegal aliens eligible to stay in the United States without penalty and eventually to apply for permanent legal residence and citizenship.

The White House also will call for an increase in the size of the permanent-resident program, prompting one immigration critic to brand the proposal "a two-step amnesty."

Illegal immigrants who can prove they have jobs can stay in the country legally for three years. In that period, they can bring family members to the United States and enjoy rights now reserved for Americans and for foreigners with permanent-resident status, including Social Security benefits.

"It will protect the rights of illegal workers who now live in the shadows and are fearful of coming out of the shadows for fear of deportation," a White House official said yesterday.

"They will now enjoy the same protections that American workers have with respect to wages and employment rights and the like. ... If they complain about a practice, they're not going to be deported, because they're legal."

The White House took pains last night to deny the notion that while the illegal aliens who have sneaked into the country and use false identifications to hold U.S. jobs will face no penalties whatsoever, the program is not a "blanket amnesty."

"There is no linkage," a White House official said, "between participation in this program and a green card," a legal document that lets foreigners reside in the United States permanently and apply for citizenship after five years.

Mr. Bush's guest-worker proposal, which Congress must approve, would be "temporary in nature. One must go home upon conclusion of the program."

During the three-year period, the aliens would have permission to leave the country and come back as needed, and could renew their three-year involvement in the program, the official said.