Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

President Bush Considers Granting Legal Residency to Millions of Undocumented Mexican Immigrants

Aired July 16, 2001 - 08:10   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: Next: a possible change in status: Illegal immigrants from Mexico could become legal. President Bush is reportedly considering a grant of legal residency to three million undocumented Mexicans who are now living in the United States. The report comes during a tour by Mexico's president, Vicente Fox. He is pushing for an open border between the two countries.

And our senior White House correspondent John King has all the details for us this morning -- John.

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Colleen, good morning to you.

Senior administration officials stressing to us this morning that this proposal to give more than three million Mexicans in the United States illegally status to stay in the United States is just one proposal in a report due on the president's desk this week, perhaps even as early as today -- but this is an issue President Bush promised his friend, President Fox, he would consider when the two leaders met back in February for the first time. They have met since.

They have high-level negotiators discussing not only what to do about all the Mexicans in the United States illegally, but also Mr. Bush and Mr. Fox very eager to strike agreement on a new guest-worker program under which Mexicans could come legally into the United States on a temporary basis.

One proposal even would allow payroll taxes to be deducted from their checks, but that money would not go to the U.S. Treasury, like yours and mine does; it would instead go into a fund that they could send back home to their families -- immigration, of course, always quite a sensitive issue -- President Bush at odds with many members of his own Republican Party in pushing for more immigration, in pushing to consider this proposal to grant documentation to those Mexicans in this country illegally.

So this would be a contentious fight if the president made such a recommendation to the Congress -- again, though, administration officials stressing to us this morning: While the president has said he wants to address cross-border issues -- something he dealt with quite frequently as the governor of Texas -- this proposal will come to his desk subject to weeks, if not months of administration review. And then, of course, any recommendations, most of them would have to go to the U.S. Congress, where a quite contentious debate is likely -- Colleen.

MCEDWARDS: Indeed. Thanks very much, CNN's John King.

More now on the immigration story from our fact folder for you. Attorney General John Ashcroft is meeting with Mexican officials in California and Arizona later this month. They will discuss border issues, including immigration. Ashcroft and Secretary of State Colin Powell will then meet with their Mexican counterparts in early August.

By the way, recent Census figures now say that the number of Americans claiming Mexican ancestry has grown 53 percent in the last decade -- Brian.

BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: And all that activity is very appropriate, because a report out this morning says that the Hispanic population of the U.S. grew 58 percent during the 1990s.

But Hispanics did not reap the benefits of the '90s economic boom. The report says Hispanics are more likely to live in segregated neighborhoods, and they are less likely to have health insurance. That report goes on to say that Hispanics often work at low-pay jobs and they do not often own their own homes. The report was prepared for a conference of La Raza. This is an Hispanic advocacy group.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com