LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The nation's homeland security chief said Thursday he supports a temporary guest worker program as a humanitarian approach to dealing with the 11 million to 12 million immigrants in the country illegally.

In a speech to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, Michael Chertoff suggested a "tough and fair" policy that would allow those immigrants to stay and contribute to America's economy, but said they must pay a price for entering the country illegally.

"There can't be special privileges for law breakers," he said, adding those who apply to the program must show a working knowledge of English and pay a penalty, or go back to their native country and apply to come back.

Earlier Thursday, Reps. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. proposed a plan calling for illegal immigrants to leave the United States and re-enter legally before becoming eligible for permanent U.S. residency. Under the plan, those in the country as of June 1, 2006, would be granted six-year work visas. During that time, they must learn English, become educated about U.S. government and pay a $2,000 fine and any taxes they owe.

Chertoff did not reference the plan by the two congressman. He said a system should be created to "bring them out, register them ... and make sure as a condition that they pay their debt to society for having broken the law."

Chertoff stressed that a system must be in place to detect fraud during the application process, and a judicial review must be fair and able to prevent "endless appeals" that would tax the legal system.

"What I'm talking about is a common sense policy," Chertoff said. "We have to be tough. We have to be humane. We have to put into place a workable policy into this vexing issue."

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