The Associated Press

MIAMI -- U.S. Senator John McCain on Tuesday joined the growing debate over the government's wet-foot, dry-foot policy for Cuban immigrants, saying its time the policy was re-examined.

``I've been talking to many in the Cuban-American community and others, including Governor Bush, who are more knowledgeable than I,'' the senator told reporters during a conference call. ``I think it needs to be reviewed.''

McCain, R-Ariz., spoke in advance of a town meeting he will hold Thursday at Miami-Dade College's Wolfson Campus to promote his immigration reform bill.

The proposal, co-sponsored by U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, D-Mass, would permit illegal immigrants to obtain work visas for up to six years, with the opportunity to apply for permanent residency. It does not include any reference to the wet-foot, dry-foot policy.

But McCain said that policy has become increasingly contentious since 15 Cubans were sent back to the Communist island in January after the U.S. Coast Guard found that a former bridge they landed on in the Florida Keys was not part of U.S. soil because it no longer connected to land.

During the conference call, McCain called on Hispanics and others to get involved and speak out on the issue of immigration rather than leave it to extremists on either side.

McCain, a likely 2008 presidential candidate, is holding town meetings across the country this week, including in Arizona and New York, to promote his reform bill.

``I'm doing this because we need to have this debate and dialogue among the American people,'' he said. ``If we put it off another year, I think frankly it would be an abrogation of our responsibilities.''