Thread: Obama to push immigration plan in 'first year' of new term

President Obama says he will push for major immigration legislation if he is re-elected.
Obama told Univision he would like to do immigration this year, but Republican opposition is too intense.
"I can promise that I will try to do it in the first year of my second term," Obama said.
"I want to try this year," he added. "The challenge we've got on immigration reform is very simple. I've got a majority of Democrats who are prepared to vote for it, and I've got no Republicans who are prepared to vote for it."
President Obama today at the Summit of the Americas


CAPTION

By SAUL LOEB, AFP/Getty Images

Obama supports what he calls a "comprehensive" immigration bill. It involves both tougher border security as well as a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants who are already in the U.S. Republicans say the emphasis should be on border protection, and liken citizenship plans to amnesty for lawbreakers.
In the Univision interview, Obama took a swipe at one of those Republicans, likely election opponent Mitt Romney.
Said Obama: "We now have a Republican nominee who said that the Arizona laws are a model for the country ... these are laws that potentially would allow someone to be stopped and picked up and asked where their citizenship papers are based on an assumption."
Republican Party spokesperson Kirsten Kukowski said Obama "promised to tackle immigration reform in his first year and failed."
"From immigration to creating jobs and cutting the deficit, President Obama has failed to follow through on his promises to the American people showing his words are more about winning elections than anything else," she said.
Univision interviewed Obama in connection with this weekend's Summit of the Americas.
Topics included democracy promotion, drug trafficking, and race relations.


Obama to push immigration plan in 'first year' of new term

Sounds like the same thing he said in 2008, but maybe this time he has more flexibility.

Obama hits Romney over immigration stance

By Dave Boyer

The Washington Times

Saturday, April 14, 2012


President Barack Obama sits in front of a large video screen displaying an image of a U.S. national flag at the CEO Summit of the Americas, in Cartagena, Colombia, Saturday April 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

President Obama attacked presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney over his support for Arizona’s tough immigration law Saturday and pledged to work for comprehensive immigration reform if he wins a second term.

In an interview with the Spanish-language Univision network in Cartagena, Colombia, Mr. Obama called Mr. Romney’s position on immigration “very troublesome.”

“We now have a Republican nominee who said that the Arizona laws are a model for the country,” Mr. Obama said, referring to Mr. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor. “These are laws that potentially would allow someone to be stopped and picked up and asked where their citizenship papers are based on an assumption.”

The president is wooing Hispanic voters on a three-day trip to Colombia, where he is attending the hemispheric Summit of the Americas, a gathering of more than 30 world leaders. Hispanic voters in the U.S. supported Mr. Obama heavily in 2008, but many of them have been critical of his failure to achieve a major overhaul of U.S. immigration laws as president.

The Arizona law, signed in 2010 by Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, gives police the authority to check routinely the immigration status of people suspected of being in the country illegally and to pursue deportation. Supporters of the law said they hope the measure will push illegal immigrants out of Arizona, possibly saving the state hundreds of millions of dollars in education and prison costs and benefit payments.

Asked on Univision whether he would promise to move forward rapidly on immigration reform in a second term, Mr. Obama blamed Republicans for the failure to reach a solution and pledged, “I can promise that I will try to do it in the first year of my second term. I want to try this year.”

The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on April 25 on the Arizona law, as justices prepare to rule on the legality of the state’s immigration crackdown. The Obama administration challenged the law and a violation of federal prerogatives and won an order blocking key provisions in lower federal courts. Arizona asked the Supreme Court to hear its appeal of those decisions.

During a GOP presidential primary debate in Arizona in February, Mr. Romney said he would drop the federal government’s lawsuits against the state law “on Day One” if he is elected president.

“I’ll also complete the fence [along the Mexican border], I’ll make sure we have enough Border Patrol agents to secure the fence, and I will make sure we have an E-Verify system and require employers to check the documents of workers,” Mr. Romney said.

Obama hits Romney over immigration stance - Washington Times

Added second article above to the Homepage with a slightly amended title:
http://www.alipac.us/content/obama-h...on-stance-374/

Obamination pushes a lot more than immigration (amnesty) reform ..



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Obama's colors: PINK, white, and pale blue ..

"Illegal Feathers, Flock Together"

Obama pledges to pursue immigration reform in second term

thehill.com
By Jonathan Easley
04/14/12

Obama vowed in an interview with Univision to pursue comprehensive immigration reform and attacked Romney and GOP lawmakers, saying they would oppose his efforts.

President Obama promised to pursue immigration reform in his second term, but said Republicans in Congress may keep him from succeeding.

“I can promise that I will try to do it in the first year of my second term,” Obama said in an interview with Univision set to air on Sunday. “I want to try this year. The challenge we've got on immigration reform is very simple. I've got a majority of Democrats who are prepared to vote for it, and I've got no Republicans who are prepared to vote for it.”

The president also took a shot at Mitt Romney, his likely Republican opponent in the fall, for supporting Arizona’s controversial anti-illegal immigration law.

“We now have a Republican nominee who said that the Arizona laws are a model for the country; that - and these are laws that potentially would allow someone to be stopped and picked up and asked where their citizenship papers are based on an assumption.”

Univision reporter Enrique Acevedo interjected to describe such stops as “racial profiling.”

“Very troublesome,” Obama continued. “And this is something that the Republican nominee has said should be a model for the country. So what we need is a change either of Congress or we need Republicans to change their mind, and I think this has to be an important debate during - throughout the country.”

In 2008, then-candidate Obama promised to address immigration reform in his first year in office. Some in the Hispanic community are upset with the president for not following through on that promise when Democrats controlled both the House and Senate.

Still, the president enjoys overwhelming support from Hispanic voters. In a Fox News Latino survey released last month, none of the Republican candidates took more than 14 percent of Latino support in head-to-head match-ups against the president, and 73 percent said they approved of the job Obama has been doing, well above Gallup’s national average of 49 percent.

Latino voters went strongly for Obama in 2008, and the president will need a similar turnout in 2012 to secure a second term in what will be a tightly contested race.

While the administration has put immigration reform on the backburner at times, the president likely sees an opening to cement his support among Latino voters by resurrecting the issue – the presumptive Republican nominee, Romney, is on record as opposing the DREAM Act, which would provide a path to citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants born in the United States, a measure which 90 percent of Latino voters say they support.

“What I've said to Latinos across the United States is that my passion for this issue is undiminished; that when it comes to, for example, the Dream Kids who have been raised as Americans and see themselves as Americans and want to serve their country or are willing to work hard in school and start businesses or work in our laboratories and in our businesses, it is shameful that we cannot get that done,” Obama said.

“And so I'm just going to keep on pushing as hard as I can, and what I'm going to be encouraging is the Latino community continue to ask every member of Congress where they stand on these issues, but the one thing that I think everybody needs to understand is that this is something I care deeply about. It's personal to me, and I will do everything that I can to try to get it done. But ultimately I'm going to need Congress to help me,” he added.

Romney spokesperson Amanda Henneberg shot back, saying that the president’s promise to tackle immigration reform was merely an election-year political ploy.

“President Obama only talks about immigration reform when he's seeking votes, Henneberg said in an email to The Hill. “Then-candidate Obama promised to tackle immigration reform in his first year. More than three years into his term, America is still waiting for his immigration plan.”

Henneberg defended Romney’s position.

“As governor, Mitt Romney fought to protect legal immigration by working to end illegal immigration,” she said. “He will do the same as President by fixing and improving our broken immigration system, respecting those who are waiting patiently to come here legally, and finally ending illegal immigration in a civil and resolute manner.”

source: Obama pledges to pursue immigration reform in second term - The Hill's Blog Briefing Room