By Georgina Brennan

IN an unprecedented move, President George W. Bush has called U.S. immigration law a failure and urged Congress to accept his guest Worker program which would allow millions of undocumented to work legally here. The bill could have a major impact on undocumented Irish in the U.S.

Speaking at a press conference in the White House on Monday, Bush said the New Year was going to bring real reform. “I intend to work with members of Congress to get something done,” he told reporters. “I think this is an issue that will make it easier for us to enforce our borders.

“It’s an issue that will show the compassion, the heart of American people. And no question, it’s a tough issue, just like some of the other issues we’re taking on. But my job is to confront tough issues and to ask Congress to work together to confront tough issues.”

Bush’s proposed guest worker program was first announced early last year. In it Bush proposed a new immigration law whereby illegal immigrants who have been in the country for five years and have a firm job offer could get legal status for three years. Immigration reform advocates such as Senator John McCain of Arizona want the provisions for workers to be made easier, and a final bill may well reflect that.

The U.S. employer would have to prove they looked for an American worker but were forced to hire a foreigner. After three years the offer could be renewed and while on the visa, participants could travel freely abroad. The guest worker visa would allow participants to pay taxes and be eligible to amass Social Security benefits.

Outlining that the guest worker program would allow illegal immigrants a real chance to live a normal life in America, Bush said the program was the right thing to do. “It’s a compassionate way to treat people who come to our country. It recognizes the reality of the world in which we live. There are some people — there are some jobs in America that Americans won’t do and others are willing to do,” he said.

“Family values do not stop at the Rio Grande River, is what I used to tell the people of my state. People are coming to put food on the table, they’re doing jobs Americans will not do. And to me, it makes sense for us to recognize that reality.”

Bush said he wanted a different set of priorities for immigration agents. “We want our border patrol agents chasing crooks and thieves and drug runners and terrorists, not good-hearted people who are coming here to work,” he says.

For the first time in his presidency, Bush admitted immigration reform was a new passion of his.

“I’m passionate on it because the nature of this country is one that is good-hearted and compassionate. Our people are compassionate. The system we have today is not a compassionate system. It’s not working. And as a result, the country is less secure than it could be with a rational system,” he said.

Most Republicans are against any idea of amnesty for illegals but Democrats, willing to meet the president halfway, want more than he is offering. They want a path to legal status after the program is finished. There are an estimated 8 to 12 million illegal immigrants living in the United States and thousands of them are Irish.

Former Congressman Bruce Morrison said that real change could only occur if the president considered a bipartisan approach. “The problem is that half of the Republicans are deeply split on this, half are opposed to and the other half are in favor,” he says. “The president can only get this to pass if he does it with Democrats, and that hasn’t been the approach in the last administration.”