Bush renews call for liberalization of immigration laws

WASHINGTON - President Bush renewed his call for liberalizing the nation's immigration laws during his State of the Union speech Wednesday night.

The president has repeatedly called for an approach that would grant temporary legal status to certain illegal immigrants in this country.

"...America's immigration system is also outdated -- unsuited to the needs of our economy and to the values of our country," Bush said Wednesday night. "We should not be content with laws that punish hard-working people who want only to provide for their families, and deny businesses willing workers, and invite chaos at our border."

The president went on to say, "It is time for an immigration policy that permits temporary guest workers to fill jobs Americans will not take, that rejects amnesty, that tells us who is entering and leaving our country, and that closes the border to drug dealers and terrorists."