2006年VOA标准英语-Bush Continues Campaign for Immigration Re

By Scott Stearns
White House
07 June 2006

President Bush wants U.S. lawmakers to agree on comprehensive changes to American immigration laws aimed at both strengthening border security and offering long-time illegal immigrants a path to citizenship¹.

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George Bush 
  

President Bush is campaigning for immigration reform in hopes of laying the groundwork for a compromise between a Senate bill with a guest worker program and House legislation that would make illegal immigration a felony.

Despite those differences, Mr. Bush told community college students in Nebraska that there is no conflict between the rule of law and treating immigrants with respect.

"I know you probably look at Washington and think it is impossible to develop a consensus² in Washington, D.C.," he said.  "It probably seems that way, doesn't it, when you pay attention to all the sharp elbows being thrown and people opinionating and screaming and hollering and calling each other names. But there is a consensus emerging on this issue."

President Bush wants Congress to spend more money for new border fences and high-tech³ surveillance equipment as well as 6,000 more border patrol agents.  He says the government will stop releasing captured illegal immigrants in hopes that they will show up for a court hearing.  Instead, he says they will be detained or sent home.

"Once people understand that they can't come into our country illegally and they will be sent home when they try to, then they are not going to try in the first place. That is part of the strategy," he added.

The president says it is not possible to enforce the border without a rational way for people to do work that Americans are not doing. So he wants a temporary worker program that allows immigrants to work for two years before returning home.

As for those illegal immigrants who have been in America longer, President Bush says they should be offered a path to citizenship after paying a fine, learning English, proving regular employment, and passing a criminal background check.

"The right thing to do is to recognize that if you have been here illegally, that there ought to be a cost for doing so, but also recognize that there are decent hard working people who have contributed to our society at the same time," he said.

The president says those long-time illegal immigrants should go to the back of the citizenship line so as not to punish those who entered the country legally and are already waiting.

Either way, some opponents in the president's Republican Party say any path to citizenship for illegal immigrants amounts to an amnesty that rewards those who have broken the law

1 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

2 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

3 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。