OBAMA'S STATEMENT ON IMMIGRATION SUMMIT

Sounding good:

 

THE WHITE HOUSE

 

Office of the Press Secretary

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

For Immediate Release                                                                                       June 25, 2009

 

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT

AFTER MEETING WITH MEMBERS OF CONGRESS

TO DISCUSS IMMIGRATION

 

State Dining Room

 

 3:17 P.M. EDT

 

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, everybody.  We have just finished what I consider to be a very productive meeting on one of the most critical issues that I think this nation faces, and that is an immigration system that is broken and needs fixing.

We have members of Congress from both chambers, from parties, who have participated in the meeting and shared a range of ideas.  I think the consensus is that despite our inability to get this passed over the last several years, the American people still want to see a solution in which we are tightening up our borders, or cracking down on employers who are using illegal workers in order to drive down wages -- and oftentimes mistreat those workers.  And we need a effective way to recognize and legalize the status of undocumented workers who are here.

            Now, this is -- there is not by any means consensus across the table.  As you can see, we've got a pretty diverse spectrum of folks here.  But what I'm encouraged by is that after all the overheated rhetoric and the occasional demagoguery on all sides around this issue, we've got a responsible set of leaders sitting around the table who want to actively get something done and not put it off until a year, two years, three years, five years from now, but to start working on this thing right now.

            My administration is fully behind an effort to achieve comprehensive immigration reform.  I have asked my Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Secretary Janet Napolitano, to lead up a group that is going to be working with a leadership group from both the House and the Senate to start systematically working through these issues from the congressional leaders and those with the relevant jurisdiction.  What we've heard is through a process of regular order, they would like to work through these issues both in the House and in the Senate.

            In the meantime, administratively there are a couple of things that our administration has already begun to do.  The FBI has cleared much of the backlog of immigration background checks that was really holding up the legal immigration process.  DHS is already in the process of cracking down on unscrupulous employers, and, in collaboration with the Department of Labor, working to protect those workers from exploitation.

            The Department of Homeland Security has also been making good progress in speeding up the processing of citizenship petitions, which has been far too slow for far too long -- and that, by the way, is an area of great consensus, cuts across Democratic and Republican parties, the notion that we've got to make our legal system of immigration much more efficient and effective and customer-friendly than it currently is.

            Today I'm pleased to announce a new collaboration between my Chief Information Officer, my Chief Performance Officer, my Chief Technologies Officer and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Office to make the agency much more efficient, much more transparent, much more user-friendly than it has been in the past.

In the next 90 days, USCIS will launch a vastly improved Web site that will, for the first time ever, allow applicants to get updates on their status of their applications via e-mail and text message and online.  And anybody who's dealt with families who are trying to deal with -- navigate the immigration system, this is going to save them huge amounts of time standing in line, waiting around, making phone calls, being put on hold.  It's an example of some things that we can do administratively even as we're working through difficult issues surrounding comprehensive immigration.

            And the idea is very simple here:  We're going to leverage cutting-edge technology to reduce the unnecessary paperwork, backlogs, and the lack of transparency that's caused so many people so much heartache.

            Now, we all know that comprehensive immigration reform is difficult.  We know it's a sensitive and politically volatile issue.  One of the things that was said around the table is the American people still don't have enough confidence that Congress and any administration is going to get serious about border security, and so they're concerned that any immigration reform simply will be a short-term legalization of undocumented workers with no long-term solution with respect to future flows of illegal immigration.

            What's also been acknowledged is that the 12 million or so undocumented workers are here -- who are not paying taxes in the ways that we'd like them to be paying taxes, who are living in the shadows, that that is a group that we have to deal with in a practical, common-sense way.  And I think the American people are ready for us to do so.  But it's going to require some heavy lifting, it's going to require a victory of practicality and common sense and good policymaking over short-term politics.  That's what I'm committed to doing as President.

            I want to especially commend John McCain, who's with me today, because along with folks like Lindsey Graham, he has already paid a significant political cost for doing the right thing.  I stand with him, I stand with Nydia Velázquez and others who have taken leadership on this issue.  I am confident that if we enter into this with the notion that this is a nation of laws that have to be observed and this is a nation of immigrants, then we're going to create a stronger nation for our children and our grandchildren.

            So thank you all for participating.  I'm looking forward to us getting busy and getting to work.  All right?  Thank you.

            Oh, and by the way, I hope everybody has got their Hawaiian shirts -- (laughter) -- and their mumus for our luau tonight.

            END                                              3:24 P.M. EDT

Comments

[Legal-immigrant]

@Legal and suffereing
"some legal immigrants will become illegal."

haha.. well said... and dont forget "most legal immigrants will go broke paying USCIS and the lawyers... :)"

[Legal and Suffering]

Some politicians will be re-elected...some immigration lawyers will become richer.

Some illegal immigrants will be legal...some legal immigrants will become illegal.

[Jim]

Looks like the Energy bill has more chances to pass now than HC reform. The House will be voting on it this Friday and word is Nancy Pelosi really thinks it will pass (by a squeaker) otherwise she won't let it even be on the floor for voting.

Conflicting reports on CIR as well, with the Whitehouse (via Rahm and Gibbs) downplaying chances but Reid saying he has the votes and now Nancy Pelosi says she can get it done if the Senate passes it first.

If I am being optimistic, I would say there is some kind of strategy or tactic involved somewhere.

[gg]

If Obama takes leadership on this issue and is willing to spend his political capital, then there is a good chance of the passage of this bill this year. He should not make the same mistake as he has with the healthcare bill by leaving it to the house and the congress to come up with the solution.
As a result the healthcare bill is going through a roller coaster ride.

[Jack]

'legalization of undocumented workers'

'And we need a effective way to recognize and legalize the status of undocumented workers who are here'

'12 million or so undocumented workers'

His words read that it's just 'workers' who get amnesty. He's done this before. Is he just imprecise or playing word games? I think the answer is obvious.

'One of the things that was said around the table is the American people still don't have enough confidence that Congress and any administration is going to get serious about border security, and so they're concerned that any immigration reform simply will be a short-term legalization of undocumented workers with no long-term solution with respect to future flows of illegal immigration.'

I can't imagine why they'd think that.

What is a short-term legalization? He's surely not referring to temporary non-enforcement but amnesty. Amnesty is permanent. It's the promised enforcement people think will be temporary and is completely dependent on the will of the Executive. There is no way to guarantee that after the irrevocable amnesty is granted that anything will be done as far as enforcement--it's a meaningless promise. In fact, the political forces which are categorically against enforcement will be strengthened by the amnesty which will make enforcement more politically difficult going forward. The legal versions of these groups will first attempt to delay and then weaken anything which might help. How do we know? Because they already do this.

Amnesty sends a message that the U.S. government does not take immigration law seriously so why should you? People need to realize these things before getting their hopes up that CIR would fundamentally change future flows of illegal immigration. There are also all kinds of magnets which will not be addressed at all in CIR.

[Legal-immigrant]

He really didn't say anything new... same old story. I think we will have 4 more years of the previous administration in this matter :( oh well...

[AD]

I guess this is what is going to happen. They are going to give it a shot. But Rahm is just saying so, so that he can say on behalf of the administration "I said so" if CIR gets defeated in either house.

[Legal_Alien_from_Roswell]

Bah, all lip service, i don't see any time frame or any sense of urgency, just same ol rhetoric, we can all kiss CIR's backside goodbye for now...and forever.