To the Point

Business, Politics and Illegal Immigration

President Bush has stepped back into one of America-s most bitter controversies by proposing temporary work permits for 8 to 12 million illegal immigrants. Conceding that the undocumented economy won-t go away, he says that tax-paying workers should no longer have to contend with fear and insecurity. His election-year proposal, which will require action by Congress, is already under attack-from both sides of a dispute that is passionately contentious. We hear about the benefits, drawbacks and mortal danger of illegal immigration from experts at the Institute for Justice and Journalism, the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, the Center for Immigration Studies, a spokesman for US Citizenship and Immigration Services and a consultant to the government of Mexico, home to half of America-s 8 million undocumented workers. Making News: More Casualties in Iraq as Prisoners Are Released In Iraq today, a Black Hawk helicopter went down, killing all nine American soldiers on board. The US military is investigating the crash of the chopper, which it says was on a "routine mission." Joe Cochrane, who reports from Baghdad for Newsweek magazine, updates the investigation and today's freeing of 60 to 70 Iraqi prisoners, the first in a series of planned prisoner releases.