Teamsters leader calls for tightening borders

Hoffa opposes guest-worker plan, saying it would undermine wages


James Hoffa, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, called for tighter U.S. border control, saying the country must stop illegal immigration so it can focus on the undocumented workers already here.

"We have to control our borders," Hoffa said in an interview Thursday in Detroit. "Let's stop for a while, so that we can basically take a breath and find out what we do with the people that are here.

"We have to have time to digest the people that are here, assimilate them into the culture," he said.

Hoffa has urged Congress to pass immigration legislation that includes both tighter border controls and a path to citizenship for illegal workers already in the U.S.

The Teamsters, a union of 1.4 million that includes truck drivers and loading dock workers, opposes a guest-worker program supported by President Bush, saying it would undermine wages.

Bush has said he wants new immigration laws that would better secure the border, create a guest-worker program and give some of the estimated 11 million undocumented workers already in the country the opportunity to gain legal status.

Congress is at an impasse on final legislation because Republicans in the House of Representatives insist that border security must come first.

The Senate favors a broader proposal that is aligned with what the president seeks.

The Teamsters union, however, opposes the proposed immigration legislation from both the House and Senate.

Labor unions are split over whether the proposal to allow thousands of immigrants to enter the U.S. as temporary workers would result in a surge of potential new members or a flood of exploitable laborers who would drive down wages.

While the Teamsters and other unions representing higher-wage employees oppose the guest-worker plan, the Service Employees International Union, which represents many lower-wage workers such as janitors, and Unite Here, which serves hotel and restaurant employees, support the proposal.