Defining immigration

Politics: Evangelical leaders want to come to terms with differences over guest workers and amnesty | John Dawson

Richard Land bristles when he hears people label a guest-worker program for illegal immigrants as amnesty. "Having to pay back taxes and undergo a background check and learning English," said Mr. Land, president of the Southern Baptists Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. "That's not amnesty. Having to wait six years before you can apply for permanent status is not amnesty."

Mr. Land supports President George W. Bush and a bipartisan consensus of U.S. senators who are calling for a guest-worker program designed to bring many of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants out from the shadows and into American society. Mr. Land says his support of a guest-worker program, which has been decried as a form of amnesty by conservative opponents like Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, is based on pragmatism: "The political reality is that we're not going to round up 12 million people and send them back home."