President Obama gave a memorable address today on the need to move immigration reform. He largely laid out the same case that the Gang of Eight Senators did yesterday. But he made clear that if the Senate and House get bogged down in bickering, he'll push his own version of a reform bill and force Republicans to vote no, something that could haunt the GOP for years. From the speech:
So -- so we know where the consensus should be. Now, of course, there will be rigorous debate about many of the details, and every stakeholder should engage in real give-and-take in the process. But it’s important for us to recognize that the foundation for bipartisan action is already in place. And if Congress is unable to move forward in a timely fashion, I will send up a bill based on my proposal and insist that they vote on it right away.
"No, it just means that we should have tightented earlier - preferably, right before your ancestors came."
Absolutely right!
Posted by: George Chell | January 30, 2013 at 04:40 PM
I have to say, I like Obama v2.0. Either he found a way to grow some balls, or maybe he just borrowed Hillary's ;-) It has been known for a while that Republicans do respect a good fighter, so they will now work a lot better with him.
Posted by: Legal and no longer waiting | January 30, 2013 at 07:27 AM
"What he means is we shouldn't say anything when immigration law is flouted and and it's wrong for him to enforce it."
No, it just means that we should have tightented earlier - preferably, right before your ancestors came.
Posted by: Legal and no longer waiting | January 30, 2013 at 07:23 AM
"Unless you're one of the first Americans, a Native American, you came from some place else, somebody brought you."
So? What he means is we shouldn't say anything when immigration law is flouted and and it's wrong for him to enforce it.
"You know, Ken Salazar (ph) he's - he's of Mexican-American descent, but he points out that his family's been living where he lives for 400 years, so he didn't - he didn't immigrate anywhere."
Oh, boy--we didn't cross the border, the border crossed us! This one's for you, target audience. What he means is that Mexican nationals especially are above our law and have some special right to be here.
Posted by: Jack | January 30, 2013 at 02:12 AM
"But these 11 million men and women are now here."
That's some tough talk! So if you can just get here, don't worry--I'll cave. Who am I to actually enforce the law--especially against natural voters for my party (heh heh)? Nice message to send to anyone in the world considering whether they should ignore U.S. immigration law. Do it!
Posted by: Jack | January 30, 2013 at 12:41 AM
You need to read carefully Kaushik. Every proposal now includes removal of per country caps. It has been hammered into the consciousness of every member of Congress! And there is a de facto increase in the EB numbers with significant exemptions of families and EB1 from the count in the Hatch proposal.
Posted by: Amused | January 29, 2013 at 11:20 PM
So the outline includes a pathway to citizenship for people who are present unlawfully. Good for them. The outline for fixing legal immigratin includes provisions for granting green cards to STEM graduates. But nobody seems to be talking about removing country-quotas or increasing the numbers for employment based visas. Unless that happens, there will be no respite for people like me who have been living in this country for 11 years and stuck in the system for 9 years, and counting.
Posted by: Kaushik | January 29, 2013 at 03:49 PM
About time president Obama. Finally! Go Mr. President!
Posted by: Paul | January 29, 2013 at 03:20 PM
GO OBAMA!!!
Posted by: CIR2013 | January 29, 2013 at 01:13 PM