Thread: Obama talks immigration, but not with Congress !

Apr 19, 2011 Obama talks immigration with officials -- but no members of Congress President Obama hopes to build political momentum for his view of immigration reform today, but a big meeting at the White House this afternoon does not include members of Congress.


Obama meets with what the White House describes as "senior administration officials and stakeholders" to discuss plans for tighter border security border as well as a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who are already in the U.S.

"The president will also discuss how we can work together to foster a constructive national conversation on this important issue as we work to build a bipartisan consensus in Congress," said a White House statement.

Among the stakeholders expected to attend: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.



Congress is currently on recess. Republicans have said that while they support tighter border enforcement, they will vote against anything that smacks of "amnesty" for illegal immigrants -- and that's the word many of them use to describe Obama's proposed path to citizenship.

And, of course, the GOP controls the U.S. House.

The administration officials expected to attend the meeting include, according to the White House:



Attorney General Eric Holder

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar

Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano

Valerie Jarrett, Assistant to the President & Senior Advisor

Nancy Ann DeParle, Assistant to the President & Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy

Melody Barnes, Assistant to the President & Director of Domestic Policy Council


President Obama
Gene Sperling, Assistant to the President for Economic Policy & Director of National Economic Council


Austan Goolsbee, Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers

Cecilia Munoz, Deputy Assistant to the President & Director of Intergovernmental Affairs

Heidi Avery, Deputy Assistant to the President for Homeland Security

Stakeholders expected to attend the meeting include:

Leith Anderson, President, National Association of Evangelicals

Hon. Michael Bloomberg, City of New York

Bill Bratton, Former Police Chief, City of Los Angeles and City of New York

Hon. Julian Castro, Mayor, City of San Antonio

Secretary Michael Chertoff, Former Secretary Homeland Security

Governor John Engler, President and CEO, Business Roundtable

Hon. Eric Garcetti, City Council, President City of Los Angeles

Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, Former Secretary of Commerce

Raymond Kelly, Commissioner, New York City Police Department

Senator Mel Martinez, Former United States Senator/Chairman, Florida, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean JP Morgan Chase

Greg Page, Chairman & CEO, Cargill

Secretary Federico Pena, Former Secretary of Transportation and Secretary of Energy

John Podesta, CEO, Center for American Progress

Charles Ramsey, Chief of Police, City of Philadelphia/President, Major City Chiefs

Al Sharpton, President, National Action Network

Sheryl Sandberg, COO, Facebook

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Former California Governor

Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO

John C. Wester, Bishop, Archdiocese of Salt Lake City


Background on Administration Immigration Policy:


President Obama remains deeply committed to fixing the broken immigration system. The United States has been enriched by a steady stream of hardworking and talented people who have helped make America an engine of the global economy and a beacon of hope around the world. As we work to rebuild the economy, our ability to thrive depends, in part, on restoring responsibility and accountability to the immigration system. President Obama believes Democrats and Republicans should come together to tackle an issue that is critical not only to our national security but also to the economy and our global competitiveness.

The President has outlined a vision for fixing the broken immigration system through common-sense, comprehensive immigration reform grounded in the principles of responsibility and accountability:

-- Responsibility from the federal government to secure our borders: Today, our borders are more secure than at any time in the past several decades. However, the Administration continues to refine and strengthen its strategy. Enforcement resources should be increased where appropriate and focused on stopping potential terrorists and others who would do our nation harm.

-- Accountability for businesses that break the law by undermining American workers and exploiting undocumented workers: Employers that break the law by deliberately hiring and exploiting undocumented workers must be held accountable. At the same time, we must give employers who want to play by the rules a reliable way to verify that their employees are here legally.

-- Responsibility from people who are living in the United States illegally: Those people living here illegally must also be held accountable for getting on the right side of the law, by admitting they broke the law, paying taxes and a penalty, learning English before they can get in line to become legalized and citizens. Being a citizen of this country comes not only with rights but also with fundamental responsibilities. We can create a pathway for legal status that is fair, and reflects of our values.

-- Strengthen economic competitiveness by creating a legal immigration system that meets our diverse needs: Our immigration laws should encourage high-skilled individuals we train in our world-class institutions of higher education to stay in the United States and create jobs, stop punishing innocent young people for their parents' actions by denying children the chance to earn an education or join the military so they can earn higher wages and generate more tax revenues, provide farmers a legal way to hire the workers they rely on, and should respect families following the rules.

The President takes seriously his responsibility to enforce our immigration laws and secure the border. Over the last two years, the Obama Administration has dedicated unprecedented resources to secure the border, taken important steps to make interior and work site enforcement of our immigration laws smarter, and more effective, and made improvements to the legal immigration system.

-- Dedicating Unprecedented Resources to Secure the Border: Today, there are more "boots on the ground" along the Southwest Border than ever before. DHS has also deployed thousands of technology assets, including aircraft and Unmanned Aircraft Systems, and completed nearly all fencing. Last year, Congress answered the President's call to bolster the federal government's efforts through the Southwest Border Security Supplemental Bill. DHS is using these resources to build on their successful efforts to decrease the numbers of illegal aliens who cross the border and increase seizures of illegal currency, drugs, and guns that have led to thousands of criminal arrests and prosecutions.

-- Making our Interior and Work Site Enforcement Efforts Smarter and More Strategic: The Administration has laid out new enforcement strategies targeted at removing immigrants convicted of serious crimes and unscrupulous employers who seek to exploit both immigrant and American workers. These new strategies are having real results with deportations of criminal immigrants significantly increasing and auditing and fines against employers who are not in compliance with immigration laws in FY 2010. DHS has also invested in implementing important reforms to the detention system, enhancing the security and efficiency of the detention system while prioritizing the health and safety of detainees.

-- Improving our Legal Immigration System: The Administration is improving processing times and clearing backlogs of pending immigration applications, including fully eliminating the FBI National Name Check Program's backlog. DHS is also working to ensure that naturalization is accessible to all qualified legal immigrants. Since January 2009, DHS has worked with the Armed Forces to naturalize 14,000 military personnel. DHS is also devoting critical funding to support citizenship preparation and integration programs in communities throughout the country.

Our efforts have been enormously successful, but we need comprehensive reform that demands responsibility and accountability from the government, businesses, and immigrants themselves.


http://content.usatoday.com/communities ... congress/1

Related Thread Here Obama Launches "Immigration Offensive"


http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-235333.html

He can talk all he wants to He has NOT come through with his pledge to get Amnesty and Dreams for the illegals. Hispanics are not backing him and the Leagal Americans are sick and tired of the illegals leaching off of every taxpayer within the nation. His reform in the future will be tougher immigration laws, possable troops on the border, ramped up deportations and NO AMNESTY or DREAMS.

Look at all these open border LOONS.

if obama was really wanting bi partisan talks, he would schedule another one with people WHO OPPOSE illegal immigration and amnesty, but we all know that will NEVER HAPPEN

Looks like, from the list, he will be surrounded by friendly 'yes' people who can all sit around and make themselves feel good.

Chances of Amnesty/dream act passing threw congress=zero, nuff said.

Cecilia Munoz - Hispanic Heritage Born 1962
Politician, Lobbyist and Civil rights activist

Whether fighting immigration legislation or testifying before Congress, Cecilia Muñoz has been an intense, prominent voice on behalf of Hispanic American rights. As vice president for the Office of Research, Advocacy and Legislation at the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), a nonprofit organization established to improve opportunities for Hispanics, she oversees all legislative activities that cover issues of great importance to Hispanic Americans. Colleagues call her "a ferocious advocate."

Cecilia Muñoz was born in Detroit, Michigan, on July 27, 1962, the youngest of four children. Her parents had moved to the United States from La Paz, Bolivia, so that her father, an automotive engineer, could go to the University of Michigan. When she was three, the family moved to Livonia, a growing, middle-class, white Detroit suburb. Muñoz attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and completed her undergraduate degrees in English and Latin studies in 1984. Her time at the university reminded her of her youth in Livonia, where Hispanics were in the minority. But, as a side job, she worked as a tutor to Hispanic American inmates at the state prison in nearby Jackson, an experience that helped her get closer to her Hispanic culture. Following graduation, Muñoz continued her education at the University of California at Berkeley, where she obtained her master's degree.

Muñoz moved from California to Chicago to work for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago as head of the Legalization Outreach Program for Catholic Charities. Following the 1986 enactment by President Ronald Reagan of the Immigration Reform and Control Act—an amnesty program that allowed undocumented immigrants who met certain criteria (such as having lived continuously in the United States) to become legal U.S. residents—Muñoz helped more than five thousand immigrants obtain legal citizenship in the United States. Working double-digit hours, she operated 12 field offices throughout metropolitan Chicago, an intense experience. The racism and sexism she confronted in her job gave her greater empathy in working with immigrants.

National Council of La Raza

In 1988, Muñoz began her work at NCLR as the senior immigration policy analyst. She had developed a real interest in working for an institution that focused on Hispanic Americans, and she picked a prominent one. Formed in 1968, the National Council of La Raza bills itself as "the largest constituency-based national Hispanic organization, serving all Hispanic nationality groups in all regions of the country." Media outlets have viewed the NCLR's Policy Analysis Center as the pre-eminent Hispanic think tank, a voice for all Hispanic Americans. It seeks to reduce poverty and discrimination and to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans by strengthening Hispanic community-based organizations through assistance in such areas as management and resource development; it also gives its perspective on a variety of public policy issues, to encourage the adoption of programs that will better serve Hispanics. Muñoz currently is in charge of all legislative actions handled by the policy staff.

Controversy Over Welfare Reform

On August 22, 1996, President Bill Clinton signed into law the strictest federal welfare reform law in years. It had major implications for legal immigrants who were not citizens. They became ineligible for food stamps and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), the latter of which assists aged, blind, and disabled individuals. The cost savings from these cutbacks was estimated to be between 20 and 30 billion dollars over six years.

Immigrant advocate groups and charitable organizations, such as the NCLR, Northern California Coalition for Immigrant Rights in San Francisco, and Second Harvest, felt that the law was too harsh and unfair. Immigrants who came to the United States legally yet, who were not citizens, would be cut off from immigrant public assistance programs. This was especially critical to refugees who come to the United States with little money and few possessions, and who typically need several years for an adequate transition to their new surroundings. Advocates claimed it was unfair to change the rules and cut off benefits to those who had come to the United States legally.

The NCLR demonstrated the suffering these cutbacks created. The organization put a human face on the misery by presenting individuals who spoke at a press conference of the direct personal impact of these cost-cutting measures. Speaking on behalf of the NCLR, Muñoz stated, "We have no other choice but to demonstrate the human cost of these policies. And the human cost is extraordinary." It was predicted that an estimated one million immigrants would be adversely affected by rescinding food stamps. "Many of these immigrants are working men and women who supplement their income with food stamps in order to provide food for their families," stated Muñoz in an article in The Orange County Register.

The public lobbying ultimately proved successful. In July of 1997, less than a year after Clinton originally signed the bill, lawmakers softened their legal mandates by allowing some legal immigrants to continue their SSI benefits. According to Muñoz, "The lesson of the last year seems to be you can only make policy change to undo terrible wrongs after people have died or after people have entered situations that are just excruciatingly painful to watch." Muñoz believes that the decision to withhold food stamps should also have been reversed. She has spoken out for its reinstatement: "It was unfair to deny SSI to immigrants and apply this change in the law retroactively. It's equally unfair to do the same with food stamps." Some attributed the tough immigration law to the fact that it was an election year. Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies said, "The election year having passed and the special-interest groups concerned having mounted a very large and very effective lobbying campaign, Congress pulled back."

Fighting Against Discrimination

The height of irony—but an example of the kind of issue on which Muñoz works the hardest—occurred on March 21, 1997, when Muñoz was twice asked on the telephone about her citizenship, just prior to her attendance at a White House briefing on immigration. Although the White House claimed that, for security reasons, a new policy required visitors to give their date of birth, Social Security number, and citizenship, Muñoz seemed to be singled out. According to fellow attendees Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, a Washington nonprofit advocacy group, neither he nor Josh Bernstein, policy analyst at the National Immigration Law Center, were questioned. "There are laws against this stuff in the workplace," asserted Sharry in a Washington Post article. "This selective questioning of people is based on what, the number of vowels in their name?" An angry Muñoz said "[I had] smoke coming out of my ears. I hit the ceiling. This is exactly what we're fighting against."

The negative image of immigrants is something Muñoz battles every day. In 1997, a coalition of immigration reform groups set out to reduce legal immigration and eliminate illegal immigration. The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) claimed that "large numbers of immigrants make all our problems worse." Arizonans for Immigration Reform said in a Arizona Republic article that immigrants represent "an invasion that will destroy our country's sovereignty if something is not done about it." Muñoz countered these claims in the same article by pointing out the United States has largely "benefited from its generous tradition of welcoming immigrants." Indeed, an earlier report by the National Research Council concluded "immigrants are a net boost to the U.S. economy, adding up to ten billion dollars each year." Muñoz theorizes that anti-immigrant groups "try to find out what people in a certain area are concerned about and then try to link those concerns to immigration." In California, she said, the depressed economy was often blamed on immigrants; in Arizona, fast growth was their fault. Muñoz feels these criticisms stem from people worrying "about Latinos being culturally different."

Acts as Tough Advocate

Muñoz greets her visitors graciously. Fellow workers describe her as modest. In addition, she speaks warmly of her family—husband Amit Muñoz-Pandya, a human rights lawyer, and daughters Cristina and Meera. But she fights hard "doing the work I always wanted to do." As colleague Sharry says, Muñoz is as "tough and determined an advocate
http://www.gale.cengage.com/free_resour ... unoz_c.htm

The Racist Origin of "La Raza" The term “La Raza“, or “the Raceâ€

Secure the borders....YES!

Deport all illegals....YES!

A path to citizenship (amnesty)...NEVER!!!

This looks like a pre campaign kick off meeting to design a plan to keep themselves in power.

They have imported them and now they have to figure out a way to make them legal before the election.