Snow: Bush plan not '86 amnesty

Spokesman cites requirements for illegals who want citizenship

Posted: May 25, 2006 5:00 p.m. Eastern
By Les Kinsolving
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

In an unusually long answer to a question by WND, presidential press secretary Tony Snow defended President Bush's immigration-reform plan at today's press briefing, claiming it is much tougher than the 1986 amnesty program.

WND asked Snow: "Has the president studied the 1986 comprehensive immigration reform plan approved by Congress and signed by President Reagan? And if he has, why does he think this comprehensive immigration reform plan, which does essentially the same thing, will be successful?"

While saying he didn't have "a full roster of the president's bedside reading," Snow noted members of the administration "have taken a very close look at what happened in 1986."

Continued Snow: "In 1986, Congress declared an amnesty for 3 million people who were here illegally that said, OK, fine, go about your business, no crime, nothing. They also drafted a bill that made it a misdemeanor to cross America's borders without proper documentation or having done what is standard and usual for those who wish to become citizens. For this misdemeanor, it assigned no penalty.