Text 1802, 323 rader
Skriven 2005-11-28 23:33:06 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0511285) for Mon, 2005 Nov 28
====================================================
===========================================================================
Press Gaggle by Scott McClellan
===========================================================================

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
November 28, 2005

Press Gaggle by Scott McClellan
Aboard Air Force One
En route Tucson, Arizona



1:28 P.M. MST

MR. McCLELLAN: Good afternoon, everyone, let me begin with the President's
day. He had his usual intelligence briefing this morning. Then he
participated in a National Security Council meeting on Iraq. Joining him
via videoconference were Generals Casey and Abizaid, from the theater -- or
from Iraq -- and then Ambassador Khalilizad, and Secretary Rumsfeld was on
from D.C.

Following that, the President called Congressmen Murphy and Marshall, who
were on a plane returning from -- I believe they had been to Germany and
they were returning from Germany to the United States. And he also called
Congressman Skelton, who was still in Germany being treated for some
injuries that he received. And the President called to express his concern
about them and wish them all a speedy recovery from the injuries they
suffered.

Q In Iraq? Injured in Iraq?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, the three congressmen were in an accident, the car
accident from over the weekend, so the President called to wish them a
speedy recovery.

When we arrive at the Air Force Base in Arizona, the President will receive
a briefing. The briefing will be led by our border patrol head, David
Aguilar. Joining him in Arizona, too, will be Secretary Chertoff and
Attorney General Gonzales. And you all will be there to cover part of that
briefing that the President will receive.

Then following that, the President will make remarks on border security and
immigration reform. Just to give you a little bit of a preview of the
speech, the President believes that we need to take a comprehensive
approach to addressing our immigration problems, so the President will be
talking about his comprehensive strategy for immigration reform. And there
are really three parts to it.

One, improving border security. Two, robustly enforcing our immigration
laws in the interior. And, three, creating a temporary worker program to
help relieve pressure on the border and meet an important economic need.
The President today in his remarks will really focus on strengthening our
border enforcement; so that's where he'll spend a good bit of his time in
his remarks.

Let me just highlight a few things for you -- we'll have a fact sheet here
for you shortly, we're finalizing that up, I had hoped to be able to get
out an advanced copy of his text, but the President is still reworking some
of his remarks a little bit, so I don't know if that's going to happen, but
we'll get the fact sheet to you as soon as we can.

Just to mention a couple of things, since we have been in office we have
increased funding for border security 60 percent. The President will
highlight some of the actions that we've been taking, as well as talk about
some additional steps that he'll be calling on Congress to take to move
ahead on immigration reform. There are a number of congressional leaders
that we've been talking with about how to move forward in a comprehensive
way to reform our immigration system, and the President will talk about how
this is a high priority for the administration and that he will be pressing
Congress to act on this next year and get him a good piece of legislation
next year that he can sign into law.

As I mentioned, the President will talk about how comprehensive immigration
reform begins with securing our borders, and the President will talk about
how -- I guess, really, three different aspects of that. First, that we
must promptly return illegal immigrants who are crossing our border, and he
will highlight how we're working to expand what we refer to as "interior
repatriation." This is where illegal immigrants from Mexico -- and they
make up about 85 percent of the illegal immigrants crossing our border on
the southwest -- coming into the country are not only returned back across
the border to Mexico, but returned to their home towns within Mexico, and
that makes it more difficult for them to try and return again. It's been a
very successful program that's been used in some instances and we're
expanding the use of that.

The President will also talk about how we're moving to end the
catch-and-release policy and move to a catch-and-return policy, as well.
And some of that he talked about in his recent bill signing on the
Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Bill. And the President will
talk about the additional resources that we're providing, in terms of
increased border patrol agents -- an increase in border patrol agents, and
also the advanced technology that we're deploying, including the use of
unmanned aerial vehicles to detect people --

Q Unmanned what?

MR. McCLELLAN: Unmanned aerial aircraft, aerial vehicles. So, really, the
three aspects are, first, promptly returning people that are illegally
coming into this country. Secondly, working with Congress to strengthen our
immigration laws. That means ending senseless rules that we have in place
now, and he'll talk about one of those in his remarks. And, thirdly, acting
to stop people from coming across the border in the first place, and that
means increasing manpower along the border and using that advance
technology.

And then he'll talk some about improving enforcement of our immigration
laws within the United States. And then he'll touch on the temporary worker
program, as well. And, again, the temporary worker program that he has
outlined is not about amnesty; it doesn't create an automatic path to
citizenship. It does meet an important economic need and it does help us
relieve pressure on the borders so that we can focus on resources where
they need to be focused -- on those who are coming here for the wrong
reasons. And that's really kind of the summary of his remarks for today.

And then when we go to Phoenix he'll make remarks at the Kyl re-election
fundraiser, as well, and you all will be there to cover that. And we'll
over night in Phoenix. And that's really all I have to begin with.

Q Any congress people with the President, like John McCain, anybody like
that?

MR. McCLELLAN: Yes. In fact, I think both senators are expected to be
there. I think the governor is supposed to be there. There's some
additional congressman, and I can get you the list of those names, I didn't
bring them with me.

Q Since the President wants a comprehensive solution, what does he think
about the House going ahead this year with a bill that just addresses
border security?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think he may touch on that in his remarks at well. I
mean, the House is moving forward, as you point out, on a bill that focuses
on border security. The senate is taking a more comprehensive approach. And
I think what we are going to continue emphasizing is that we really need a
comprehensive approach. It begins with securing our borders, and that's
what the President is highlighting in his remarks today. But we want to
continue to work with Congress and move forward in a comprehensive way to
reform our immigration system. It is broken and it needs to be fixed and
the President believes that it must be done in a comprehensive way.

Q In his discussions with Generals Abizaid and Casey this morning, what was
the message about the Iraqi troop readiness?

MR. McCLELLAN: This was a classified NSC meeting, one of a number that he
has on a regular basis. I'm not going to get into reading out any of that
discussion.

Q In advance of his speech on Wednesday, is that a theme that he plans to
discuss there?

MR. McCLELLAN: I didn't hear the first part?

Q In advance of his speech on Wednesday, is that something --

MR. McCLELLAN: What was the "something" you were referring to? I didn't
hear.

Q Iraqi troop readiness.

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I'm not going to preview the speech today. I expect
that we will do some more previewing tomorrow for the speech for Wednesday;
today, we're going to stay focused on immigration reform. But I think you
can expect that the President -- between now and the upcoming elections in
Iraq, I think you can expect that the President will spend a good bit of
time talking about our plan for victory in Iraq and talking about the
different aspects of that. And one aspect of that is the training of Iraqi
security forces.

Q Is this another aspect, the plan for bringing American troops home?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, as we've said, that's going to be conditions-based.
We've made it -- and our commanders have stressed the importance of that,
as well. But, again, I'll talk more tomorrow about Wednesday's speech. I
don't want to jump ahead right now.

Q Scott, the President must be aware of the business community's concerns
about his new focus on punitive measures for immigrants -- it's tightening
the borders, as opposed to really highlighting the guest worker program.
How much have they weighed-in recently? Has the White House been in contact
with a number of business --

MR. McCLELLAN: On work side enforcement?

Q I'm talking about the fact that they feel that the focus has shifted from
producing a guest worker program to more of the enforcement and more of the
border control.

MR. McCLELLAN: No, no, I wouldn't agree with the idea that it's shifted, as
you say that. I mean, I think that, in terms of our communications, we
believe that it's important to emphasize both, and we were emphasizing one
over the other previously. I think that was from a communications
standpoint. But we have been acting to better secure our borders from very
early on. And that has been an important element of our approach to
reforming our immigration system. And we have taken a number of steps,
which the President will highlight in his remarks, to secure our borders.
And that includes providing additional manpower along the border, in terms
of increasing the number of border patrol agents; it includes deploying
advanced technology, and the fact that the -- in the Homeland Security
Appropriations Bill that he just signed, I think it's $139 million
additional funding for deploying advanced technology along the border to
help the secure the border.

And so we believe it's important to emphasize both, and we also believe
it's important that the approach must be comprehensive. And the temporary
worker program aspect of it will help really bring people out of the
shadows of society and reduce pressure on the borders.

Q Will it be acceptable to the White House if it has to be done one at a
time?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, we're going to continue working with Congress to get
this done, and we believe the approach ought to be comprehensive.

Q Do you have support for that?

MR. McCLELLAN: What's that?

Q Do you have the support for --

MR. McCLELLAN: -- discussions with congressional leaders about moving ahead
on immigration reform, and I think that -- and the President is optimistic
about getting this done next year.

Q -- the main senators who come around --

MR. McCLELLAN: He'll talk about -- he'll talk about some in his remarks,
from Senator McCain and Senator Kyl, to House members, as well --

Q -- around?

MR. McCLELLAN: -- Sensenbrenner and others. What's that?

Q From around?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, that we've been talking to about the importance of
moving ahead on immigration reform and building upon the steps that we've
already taken. There are a number of steps that we've already taken. The
President is going to continue to press for additional steps, as well.

Q If he got a bill that did not include a guest worker program, would he
sign it?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, it's early in this process right now. We've had good
discussions, and both the House and Senate are working to move ahead on
immigration reform, and we look forward to them doing that next year. I
think at this point, it's premature to speculate about the final piece of
legislation. We're pleased that leaders in both parties, as well as both
chambers, are committed to immigration reform, and we look forward to
working with them to get something done next year.

Q You mentioned the increase in funding for border security already. Are
you contemplating further increases in the budget you send to the Hill next
year? Or do you think it's at an adequate level now?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, there are additional steps that the President believes
we need to take, and one of the things that -- we had already increased the
number of border patrol agents prior to this recent appropriations bill
being signed. In that legislation, it increased the number of border patrol
agents even more. The President will talk about those numbers in his
remarks. He also expanded the number of beds that we have available in
order to make sure that we're not catching and releasing people, that we
can have a catch and return policy by detaining those individuals rather
than just releasing them while they await their hearing.

Q But I guess what I'm saying is, are the current levels of funding
adequate to do everything that the President thinks needs to be done for
border security?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, we're in the process of looking at the budget for next
year right now, and I don't want to jump ahead of that at this point.

But, listen -- I think listen to the President's remarks, and you'll hear
more from him.

Q Were you guys invited to tonight's event, or did you suggest that you're
in town and you could come by?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think we were invited. I'm pretty sure we were. I can
double check that --

Q Are we going to see --

MR. McCLELLAN: -- I imagine we were invited.

Q Are we going to see a lot more fundraising, now that we're inside a year
for the midterm elections?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, this -- I think he's already done events for Senators
Santorum and Talent. And this is an additional event he's doing today, and
then one tomorrow. Our political affairs shop receives, on virtually a
daily basis, requests for the President to come and participate in events
for candidates running for office next year. And the President looks
forward to campaigning on behalf of those who support his agenda to make
America stronger and safer.

Q And one more, do you have any comment on Ramsey Clark joining Saddam
Hussein's defense team?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, I think the -- Saddam Hussein is facing Iraqi justice
for his crimes against humanity, and that's the way it should be. And there
should be due process afforded to all leaders of the regime. And we've
worked with the Iraqi special tribunal to set up a legal process and have
assisted them from a technical standpoint. And this is an Iraqi justice
system. And the Iraqi people -- Saddam Hussein and his regime leaders will
face Iraqi justice.

Q So it doesn't bother you that there's an American over there defending
Saddam Hussein?

MR. McCLELLAN: It's not something I've discussed with the President. I'll
see if there's anything more.

Q Okay. Thank you.

END 1:44 P.M. MST

===========================================================================
Return to this article at:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/11/20051128-5.html

 * Origin: (1:3634/12)