Opinion> Miguel Perez> With Amigos Like Bush Who Needs Enemigos

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With Amigos Like Bush, Who Needs Enemigos?

When he first ran for president, George W. Bush wanted us to think he was a "compassionate conservative," the kind of leader who could be firm yet humane while fixing the nation's broken immigration system. But when members of his administration announced a series of enforcement-only immigration measures last week, the president betrayed many Latinos and other immigrants who voted for him.

Instead of insisting on passing comprehensive reform legislation that included some kind of legalization program for undocumented immigrants, Bush caved in to GOP anti-immigrant zealots and practically guaranteed that Latinos and other immigrants will reject Republicans in 2008.

The package of regulatory measures, shamelessly announced by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, includes many of the get-tough regulations that were part of the White House-backed immigration reform bill that was rejected by the Senate in June.

But under that bill, those harsh measures were meant for future illegal immigrants, not the 12 million undocumented immigrants who are already here and were to be put on a path to legalization.

Without a legalization program, these new rules are downright inhumane. They will cause economic hardship, hurt American businesses and lead to widespread discrimination against Latinos and other immigrants, including those who are legal residents or American citizens.

Chertoff and Gutierrez said the administration will toughen workplace enforcement and crack down on employers who hire undocumented immigrants. The government will force employers to fire millions of workers whose Social Security numbers don't match those in federal databases and increase civil and criminal penalties for employers who don't comply.

This will cause serious hardship, not only for the workers but for the businesses that depend on them. It means that agriculture, construction, service and other industries will suffer serious labor shortages, and American consumers likely will pay higher prices. Also, some of these jobs may be forced to go abroad.

According to a Pew Hispanic Center analysis of U.S.

Census figures, about 7.2 million undocumented immigrants were employed in March 2005, accounting for 4.9 percent of the U.S. civilian workforce. That included 24 percent of all workers in agriculture, 17 percent of employees who clean, 14 percent of all construction jobs and 12 percent of those involved in food preparation.

The "compassionate" Bush administration also will continue to build a fence along the Mexican border, expand the Border Patrol to 20,000 agents by 2009, build additional detention facilities for undocumented immigrants and accelerate the training of state and local officers to combat illegal immigration.

Immigrant rights advocates had been willing to swallow these bitter pills as long as they applied only to future illegal immigration. But when they are applied to the undocumented immigrants who are already here, it's not compassion that Bush is practicing; it's betrayal.

Pressured by the xenophobic GOP extremists who are alienating their party from Latino voters, the president has chosen to make life miserable for people who are already part of our society and essential to our economy. It's as good as cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Implementing these measures during the next year — with all the hardship stories that they will create — surely will hurt the Republican Party in the 2008 elections. Apparently, Republicans don't yet appreciate the strength of the Hispanic vote in key Electoral College states. They don't realize that Latinos have the power to swing a presidential election.

Bush should know better. If it weren't for the Cuban-American vote in Florida, he wouldn't even be president. In the 2000 presidential election, it was the Cuban-American vote that swung the state of Florida in Bush's favor, and it was Florida that gave Bush the presidency.

But even in southern Florida, formerly a bedrock of Latino support for Republicans, people are getting tired of hollow GOP rhetoric. Even in Miami's Cuban-American community, the number of registered Republicans has dropped dramatically.

That's because people are realizing that with amigos like Bush, Latinos and other immigrants don't need enemigos .

To find out more about Miguel Perez and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.