The Bush Administration is stuck between opposing parts of their supporters. I don't think this is at all a question of sucking up to the illegals by proposing "a path to citizenship"; I'm pretty sure this is in service to the need for low cost labor in a whole lot of service industries. It serves the dual purpose of maintaining that low cost labor pool (though possibly more expensive than before; if the labor pool has rights it can insist on, the abuses will (hopefully) wane and wages will rise somewhat) rather than attempting to deport it, and by both making illegal border crossing harder and providing that "path to citizenship" it more or less puts the blessing of legality/legitimacy on those already here who actually "follow the path" (thus making the republican law & order types happy, or at least less unhappy).
The only ones who won't like this are the ones afraid/upset at all the brown people who can't speak English all over the place. Bush is betting that this segment (once you exclude the others I've already mentioned) is small enough to be ignored for now.
I don't think the illegal immigrants desires figure in the administration's calculations at all. They can't vote.
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Date: 2006-06-14 08:09 pm (UTC)The only ones who won't like this are the ones afraid/upset at all the brown people who can't speak English all over the place. Bush is betting that this segment (once you exclude the others I've already mentioned) is small enough to be ignored for now.
I don't think the illegal immigrants desires figure in the administration's calculations at all. They can't vote.