WASHINGTON, January 7 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - U.S. President George W. Bush announced plans to allow foreign workers, mainly from Mexico, to work legally in the U.S., but the move was dismissed by critics as a face-lifting to lure Latino votes in the approaching presidential elections.

There are at least 10 million undocumented foreign workers in the U.S. and almost half of them are Mexican.

Bush, planning to meet with Mexico’s President Vicente Fox next week at the Summit of the Americas in Monterrey, Mexico, proposed to offer foreign workers at least three-year legal status in the country, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Under the proposal, yet to be finalized, foreign workers could apply for legal status for a three-year period if they had U.S. jobs. They could travel to and from the U.S. and possibly work in the country for additional three-year periods, if approved by Congress.

There are no plans to allow these foreign workers residency status though, and that is where the problem starts, said critics of the proposal.

Analysts say this policy primarily aims to smooth relations between Bush and Fox, following Mexico's stand against the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and Bush's refusal to stop the execution of a Mexican national in Texas.

The proposal is also seen as a Republican political scheme to lure Latino voters.

Immigrant advocacy groups also condemned Bush's proposal as "extremely disappointing", reported the U.S.-based Washington Post newspaper.

Cecilia Munoz, vice president for policy at the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic immigrant advocacy group, said "it's serious backtracking".

"They're proposing to invite people to be guest workers without providing any meaningful opportunity to remain in the U.S. to become legal permanent residents," said Munoz.

"It appears to be all about rewarding employers who have been hiring undocumented immigrants, while offering almost nothing to the workers," he added.

Munoz added that under current immigration law, foreigners who have violated U.S. laws, including entering the country illegally, can be banned from re-entry for three years to life.

He argued that there are only 5,000 permanent residency green cards a year available for unskilled workers and the wait to get one is about 15 years.

Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, an immigrant advocacy group, said he fears the Social Security plan could be used as an incentive for workers to go home instead of settling in the United States, which could create what he called "a permanent class of temporary workers with no political power".

"The knock that will be put on Republicans is that they want immigrants as workers but not as voters," Sharry said.

Excuse

Meanwhile, in Mexico, analysts and officials reacted with cautious optimism to early descriptions of the plan, reported the Washington Post.

Officials in the Latin American country complained that while the Bush administration sought their help with border security and combating drug trafficking, it has not acted on their desire for favorable changes in U.S. immigration policy.

They argued that the administration just used post-September 11 security concerns as an excuse to better protect, rather than allow freer movement over the U.S.-Mexican border.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said this policy proposal is simply about "matching willing workers with willing employers where there are jobs that Americans are not interested in filling".