Bush asks Congress for new immigration rules

President Bush unveiled an election-year proposal Wednesday to let millions of mostly Hispanic immigrants work legally in the United States in what would be the biggest overhaul of US immigration law in almost two decades.

The effort to court Hispanic-American voters and patch frayed relations with Mexico faced an uncertain future on Capitol Hill, where the guest worker program creating a three-year renewable temporary work permit drew skepticism from Republicans and Democrats alike.

The Bush administration sought to balance the concerns of politically important Hispanic groups seeking to legalise immigrants' status and major employers who want workers for low-paying jobs. Others worry about security and job competition amid a sea of illegal immigrants.

"We must make our immigration laws more rational and more humane, and I believe we can do so without jeopardising the livelihoods of our American citizens," Bush said.

Bush telephoned Mexican President Vicente Fox to outline the proposal, which the Mexican leader promptly welcomed as "an immigration plan to clearly recognize the worth of the Mexican men and women who are working in there in the United States."

Bush and Fox are to meet on Monday at a summit of the Americas in Mexico. Ties between the two leaders grew frosty as immigration reforms sought by Fox stalled after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Under Bush's plan, illegal immigrants now in the United States would be allowed to stay for an initial three-year period if they could prove they had jobs.

Many of the estimated 8 million to 14 million illegal immigrants in the United States came from Mexico. America's 39 million Hispanics are the largest US minority group and a target of Bush's re-election strategy in states such as Florida and California.

California's Republican governor, Austrian-born Arnold Schwarzenegger, said the proposal was "the right approach."

But the AFL-CIO labor federation said Bush's proposals would create an "underclass" of foreign workers and "exacerbate the decline in job quality and job security for all workers."

Democrats said the proposal fell far short by failing to ensure long-term illegal immigrants could remain permanently.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts said it "rewards business over immigrants by providing them with a permanent pool of disenfranchised temporary workers who could easily be exploited."