Catherwood LibraryILR School

In a speech to a major Latino group in Florida yesterday, Richard Gephardt, leader of the Democratic minority in the U.S. House of Representatives, announced yesterday that in the next two weeks Democrats will be introducing legislation that will combine guest worker programs with earned amnesty for undocumented immigrants. By granting permanent legal resident status to undocumented immigrants---and their spouses and children---who have resided and worked in the U.S. for a given period of time and paid state and federal taxes, earned amnesty would allow such immigrants to apply for citizenship five years after successfully applying for amnesty. This will be the third major push for combined earned amnesty/guest worker legislation in the past year, with President Bush?s initiative abandoned following heavy opposition from conservative Republicans and the impetus generated for such legislation by Mexican President Vicente Fox derailed by the terrorist attacks of September 11.