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Immigration from the Oval Office

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President Bush was cool, calm and collected last night, laying out — at last — his view on the boiling issue of immigration. "There is a rational middle ground between granting an automatic path to citizenship for every illegal immigrant, and a program of mass deportation," he said.

But the battle over immigration outside the tidy Oval Office is anything but cool. The symbols and facts are powerful.

Bush would send soldiers to the border — the National Guard — as a nod to the "bar-the-door" crowd. And he would send guest workers to broccoli fields and hotel laundries. And he would grant citizenship to illegals who pay the price.

Hear about Bush's big speech and the future of immigration.

Guests:

Carl M. Cannon, White House Correspondent for the National Journal

Linda Chavez, Chairman of the Center for Equal Opportunity, a non-profit public policy research organization in Sterling, Virginia

Deborah W. Meyers
Senior Policy Analyst at the Migration Policy Institute in Washington, DC

Daniel Gonzales, immigation reporter for The Arizona Republic

Gebe Martinez, Congressional reporter for the Houston Chronicle.

This program aired on May 16, 2006.

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