Thread: Obama pushes immigration reform amid weak support

Obama pushes immigration reform amid weak support
Posted Thursday July 1, 2010 11 hours, 43 minutes ago
By Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama renewed his push for U.S. immigration reform on Thursday, reaching out to Hispanic voters despite minimal chances that Congress will pass such legislation this year.

In a broad speech that did not break new policy ground, Obama, a Democrat, called for Republican support to pass a law to address the 11 million illegal immigrants in the country without disrupting the economy or violating American values.

Obama has been under pressure to keep his promise from the 2008 presidential campaign to overhaul U.S. immigration rules. A tough new law in Arizona has brought the issue to the forefront of public debate, galvanizing Hispanics, who are an important constituency for November's congressional elections.

The president, speaking at American University, criticized the Arizona law but made no mention of a potential lawsuit by his administration to block it before it goes into force on July 29. The U.S. Justice Department is expected to file a lawsuit challenging the law shortly.

Obama did not lay out a timetable for passing national reform but said he was ready to pursue the issue if Democrats and Republicans could work together.

"I'm ready to move forward, the majority of Democrats are ready to move forward and I believe the majority of Americans are ready to move forward," he said.

"Reform that brings accountability to our immigration system cannot pass without Republican votes. That is the political and mathematical reality."

In a gesture to the opposition party, Obama had rare words of praise for his predecessor, George W. Bush, calling him courageous for working toward immigration reform while he was in office. That attempt proved unsuccessful.

"IT WON'T WORK"

Obama's speech on immigration came a day after he ripped Republicans for opposing financial reform and siding with big oil companies, new signs of a White House gearing up for tough elections in the fall, when Democrats, who control both houses of Congress, are widely expected to lose seats.

But with energy legislation, financial reform and the economy topping his agenda, Obama is unlikely to make immigration a centerpiece of his campaign to help Democrats hold on to power.

In May Obama said he wanted to begin work on immigration reform this year. He supports a system that allows undocumented immigrants in good standing to pay a fine, learn English and become citizens. He also backs tightening border security and clamping down on employers that hire undocumented workers.

He highlighted those points on Thursday, while also saying the slow system of processing legal immigrants had to be fixed, too.

"No matter how decent they are, no matter their reasons, the 11 million who broke these laws should be held accountable," he said.

Obama also argued against relying on closed borders alone to fix the problem.

"There are those who argue that we should not move forward with any other elements of reform until we have fully sealed our borders," he said. "Our borders are just too vast for us to be able to solve the problem only with fences and border patrols. It won't work."

(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Bill Trott)

http://new.927thevan.com/news/articles/ ... k-support/

No Mr Obama,

We do not want any more legislation from you or any other Liberal Progressive Marxists...

Immigration is a key issue to Americans now and we will decide what is good for us. It is time we cut immigration numbers as the ones now are unsustainable and our entire system from healthcare, to law enforcement is stretched beyond thier limits...

Cut immigration numbers, end the birthright citizenship and jobs magnets, and enforce laws

The president has a majority in both houses. He can pass anything he wants with only Dem support.

As far as the border being too hard to close, whatever happened to "yes we can"?

In a broad speech that did not break new policy ground, Obama, a Democrat, called for Republican support to pass a law to address the 11 million illegal immigrants in the country without disrupting the economy or violating American values.

A law was just passed to address the millions of illegal invaders in this country! It's called SB1070, in which an overwhelming number of Americans around the country support Arizona's efforts. This was a bipartisan effort as well obama! No less than twenty states are considering passing similar legislation in their home states.

Rewarding millions of criminal illegal invaders with American citizenship is a slap in the face to American values! Obama is the last person In the world I want lecturing to me on American values!

Anyway, 1070 does not mesh with your master plan of amnesty for criminals! Obama is a pathetic joke!

Originally Posted by ReggieMay

The president has a majority in both houses. He can pass anything he wants with only Dem support.

As far as the border being too hard to close, whatever happened to "yes we can"?

And eventually, he will do just that, just as he did with healthcare. Of course he would rather pass amnesty with buy in from the GOP, as well as the American public, so as to soften the political backlash come November. This is why he's making his case for amnesty before the American people now. I also believe he will pass amnesty before November, while Dems still have control of congress. After November, he knows he will not have another chance to ram amnesty through.

I hope i'm wrong!

NoBueno: I suspect a bill will come up in November-December, during a lame duck congress. Those ousted from office will have no accountability to their constituents and may harbor resentment at losing an election.

Originally Posted by ReggieMay

NoBueno: I suspect a bill will come up in November-December, during a lame duck congress. Those ousted from office will have no accountability to their constituents and may harbor resentment at losing an election.

Yes...I was thinking we will see a bill by the end of summer, perhaps around late August or early September, for the very reasons you point out. But I think it will happen before the election, as many Dems know their days are numbered, so they really have no sense of accountability (as if they had any before) to constituents and will not be running for re-election.

Of course, the same scenario could play out with a lame duck congress as well. Either way, it's coming! These snakes are so predictable that it’s obvious what they are going to do. Obama has laid the ground work, starting with his speech for amnesty before the American people this week.

The clock is now ticking and people had better believe that reid and pelosi are working on a bill as we speak.