Bush secures border, pushes guest worker programme

In his address to the nation last night, Bush pledged his support for a 8216;8216;temporary worker programme that would create a legal path for foreign workers to enter the US in an orderly way, for a limited period of time8217;8217;.

He admitted that the country8217;s borders with Mexico are permeable and said up to 6,000 national guards are being deployed.

Despite criticism from Conservatives demanding a tough enforcement mechanism to curtail the menace, Bush stopped short of giving citizenship to illegal migrants. 8216;8216;Amnesty would be unfair to those who are here lawfully8230;There is a rational middle ground between granting an automatic path to citizenship for every illegal immigrant and a programme of mass deportation,8217;8217; Bush said.

To deal with the problem of document fraud, Bush advocated the setting up of a new identification system to verify the work eligibility of legal foreign workers. 8212;SRIDHAR KRISHNASWAMI