Schwarzenegger Has Kind Words For Bush On Immigration

Tuesday, June 5th 2007, 10:28 pm

By: News On 6

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is calling President Bush "very courageous" for pressing ahead with a controversial immigration reform plan.

Schwarzenegger also rebuked those he described as partisan critics for trying to torpedo a bipartisan deal struck by the Senate.

He told the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce that "it's inexcusable" people "are fighting from the far right and the far left over this issue, rather than coming together in the center and really coming up with a compromise that works."

The measure would allow $12 million illegal immigrants to remain in the U.S. while they take steps to gain citizenship. But negotiations on Capitol Hill are fragile because broad swaths of both parties oppose the Senate bill, which Bush supports.