PHOENIX (AP) – Struggling to pacify his party’s warring wings, President George W Bush is moving toward allowing illegal immigrants who came to the US before February 2004 to qualify for guest-worker visas.

People smuggled in after then will be deported.

State leaders in Arizona and New Mexico have stepped up pressure on the Bush administration and the Republican-led Congress to better police US borders and deal with an estimated 10 million people who are living illegally in this country.

“They’re trying to split the baby,” Sen John McCain, an Arizona Republican, said of the White House plan, “and I don’t think they can do that.”

In a nod to his conservative base, however, the president has rejected a part of the McCain-Kennedy bill that the White House believes would put illegal immigrants on an automatic track to citizenship, the officials said.

The officials said it was unclear how many illegal immigrants came after February 2004 or how many later had children in the US, conferring US citizenship on those babies.

Bush and his advisers are caught between their supporters in the business sector, who believe the economy needs those workers, and conservatives whose priority is to clamp down on illegal immigration.

The White House hopes to have a detailed proposal to Congress in late September or early October.

McCain, who ran against Bush for the 2000 Republican nomination and may seek the White House in 2008, is sponsoring a bill with Senator Edward M Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, that would create 400,000 three-year visas for guest workers.

The legislation has the flexibility to add more in the future and would let undocumented workers stay in the US while they apply.

A competing plan by Arizona Republican Senator Jon Kyl would create two-year visas and require that guest workers and illegal immigrants leave the US before they can apply for the chance to work legally in the country.

Conservative House Republicans tend to favour Kyl’s tougher approach. McCain mocks it.

“Turn yourself in so we can send you back to Mexico,” said McCain, throwing his head back in laughter during an interview at his Arizona office last week. “It’s not going to happen.”

The White House seems to agree with McCain.

According to administration and congressional officials who took part in a series of White House meetings this summer, Bush does not favour requiring illegal immigrants to be sent home to apply for the visas.

The White House wants to avoid a surge of illegal immigrants who would try to beat a prospective deadline, they said.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the White House has not authorized them to discuss the policy, which is subject to change.

All sides agree that illegal immigration has become a national security, humanitarian and economic crisis:

. Intelligence agencies fear terrorists could slip into the US through Mexico.

. Hundreds of illegal immigrants die each year while trying to enter the U.S. Those who make it often fall prey to criminals and opportunists.

. From construction companies in Arizona to farmers in the Midwest and California, many industries need those cheap and available workers.

“Just stop at one of these construction sites and look and see who those workers are. They’re all Hispanic,” McCain said. “And I bet you they’re illegal.”

McCain says his bill does not provide amnesty. Conservatives say no better word describes allowing illegal immigrants to remain in the US.

Bush may face similar criticism.