The AP (1/26) reports, "The U.S. Border Patrol is asking undocumented immigrants whether President Bush's recent guest worker proposal helped them decide to cross the border. The agency is conducting a survey among people caught entering the country illegally in the patrol's El Paso Sector, which includes all of New Mexico's border and part of West Texas' border with Mexico, agency spokesman Doug Mosier said in El Paso. One question the immigrants are being asked is whether the president's proposal enticed them to cross the border, according to El Paso sector officials. Interviewing immigrants is done strictly for intelligence purposes, Mosier said." According to the AP, "The National Border Patrol Council opposes Bush's proposal, expressing concern that it will generate an influx of immigrants. ... The new immigrant survey is somewhat burdensome, said Jim Stack, a Border Patrol agent in Alamogordo and president of the local National Border Patrol Council union. Apprehension rates since Bush's Jan. 7 announcement do not indicate an increase, but Stack warns against using statistics as an indicator of illegal crossings. A new directive from Border Patrol administrators in Washington, D.C., directed employees not speculate about the president's proposed program to news media but to stick to talking points designed to provide accurate and valid information to the public, said Gloria Chavez, a spokeswoman for the patrol's umbrella agency, the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection."
